Stealing Babies
by BroodyGirl23
Summary: Sam has made a decent reputation for herself as a P.I., a better reputation at solving cases than the PCPD has at least. When a high profile case of missing children continues to go unsolved, Sam finds herself taking on the case. JaSam.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, so I know I've been a little MIA as far as fics are concerned, and to be honest, the fics I have that aren't completed right now are going to be put on a bit of a permanent hiatus. I just don't have the heart or muse to write them at this time. But hopefully you'll be okay and enjoy this fic instead! I'm going to try and update this as often as I can, but just keep in mind that between school and work, my free time is somewhat limited. But I really am going to be dedicated to updating this as quickly as possible._

_Summary: Sam has made a decent reputation for herself as a P.I., a better reputation at solving cases than the PCPD has at least. When a high profile case of missing children continues to go unsolved, Sam finds herself taking on the case. This takes place about a year after the current storyline on GH, and Sam and Jason are together and very much in love. _

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

You're leaving pieces of family  
How are you going to help them understand  
I'm screaming while you're stealing babies  
Why do you want to knock us down again

**-x-x-x-**

He couldn't see.

_It was pitch black, and the only sound he could hear was his ragged breathing. And the **thump thump thump** of his heart. _

_It was hot; the air was thick, and his dark hair was drenched on his forehead, his shirt clinging to his body. _

_He was scared. He didn't know where he was, and he couldn't remember how he got there. _

_His breath caught in his throat when he saw a flicker of light in the distance. He could barely make it out, but he was sure it was there. A small light dancing in the darkness. _

_It was small at first, from being so far away. But it grew bigger and bigger, and he knew whatever it was, it was getting closer and closer. _

_A flame. From a candle? He couldn't be sure. _

_"Who's there!" he called out, his high pitched pre-puberty voice proving just how young he was. "Where am I?" It came out as a whimper. _

_As if from no where, more dancing flames seemed to appear behind the first one. The added light barely illuminated the room (was it even a room?), but he could now make out the outlines of people. Dozens of them. Standing in front of him carrying a lit candle each. _

_The first candle holding figure came even closer, while the others remained in the distance, and he could see that whoever it was wore a large hooded cloak. Even if the room was illuminated with light, there was no way for him to know who was underneath that hood. "Who are you!" he cried out. He wanted to sound strong, but his voice betrayed him. He couldn't hide the fear. _

**_"Do not fear, my child," _**_t__he hooded figures voice bellowed out and echoed throughout the room. **"Soon you will be ready. And then we will begin." **_

_"Begin what? What do you want from me? I want to go home!" he cried out. "Please, just let me go home!" He could hear crying in the distance. There were other kids here. The thought both comforted and terrified him. He wasn't alone, but he wasn't safe either. _

_**"Servo liberi," **The hooded figure bellowed. **"Servo liberi. Servo liberi." **_

_His eyes opened wide as the rest of the figures began to chat with the first one. "**Servo liberi. Servo liberi." **_

_"Who are you! My dad will find me, and you'll regret this! Let me go!"_

**_"Servo liberi." _**

_"Just let me go home! I want to go home!"_

**_"Servo liberi."_**

_"Please, just let me go home," he was crying now, and before he could stop it, he couldn't even see it coming, he felt the prick of a needle on his arm. _

_**"Servo liberi. Servo liberi." **The chanting was all he heard echoed through his mind as everything, once again, went black._

_. . . . ._

Swinging open the door to his Penthouse, Jason smiled at the sight before him. Though she had been living with him again for almost a year, he was almost certain he would never get over the fact that he was lucky enough to have Sam back in his life again. Seeing her sleeping on his couch brought a warm feeling in his heart, and fond memories of long ago when she was pregnant and he would come home many times to find her in that exact position.

The second thing he noticed was how much he enjoyed the peace of the atmosphere. Spinelli had moved out of the Penthouse and into Maxie and Lulu's place about a month after Sam had moved in, and it was probably the only time Jason ever felt the urge to hug the annoying blondes. With Spinelli gone, there were no longer sounds of Maxie and the hacker doing God knows what (while Jason had a pretty good idea, he chose to block those thoughts) upstairs making a ruckus, or the obnoxious sounds of one of Spinelli's video games. The only sounds to be heard was the sound of the television Sam had fallen asleep to and the soft sounds of her breathing.

Jason made his way over to the couch and carefully sat next to her, running his fingers through her hair for a moment, enjoying watching her sleeping peacefully. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead, and without warning, she practically leaped off the couch. He narrowly escaped her flailing arms, and jumped back in alarm, gathering her quickly back into his arms. "Shh, relax. It's just me."

"Oh, God, Jason, you scared me," she laughed at herself, "that's what I get for falling asleep to the news."

"You looked so peaceful. I wasn't expecting you to jump ten feet in the air," he teased, and focused his attention on the television. "Anything particularly bad?"

She leaned into his embrace. "It's awful, Jason. Another child went missing. A little girl this time. She's the sixth child gone missing in under two months. The PCPD are speculating that it might be some sort of serial kidnapper or something. They think the kidnappings might all be related, but they have absolutely no leads. The kids just...vanish."

"That is awful," Jason agreed. "How old are the kids?"

"That's the thing, Jason. They're all different ages. This little girl was seven. But one of the kids a few weeks ago was almost eleven. And one of the first ones to go missing was a baby, Jason, only two years old," she told him, unshed tears filling her eyes.

Jason smiled and leaned down to capture her lips, amazed at how much heart Sam had. He reached for the remote and turned the T.V. off, as a picture of the missing little girl flashed on the screen. "You're going to get yourself all worked up, Sam," he said, and he watched as she stifled a yawn. "How about I make some coffee? You have to go to the office today?"

"Yeah. I have things I need to get done today. McCall and Jackal is a wee bit behind on the paper work, due to the fact that my partner is excellent when it comes to the computer and technical work, but only makes things worse when I ask him to do things like paper work," she told him.

"Spinelli make a mess?"

Sam laughed, "I love him, but making messes is one of the things he does best. So I will definitely take you up on a coffee, but then I definitely need to get going. What about you, you have to work?"

"No, I took care of business stuff this morning, but I think I'm going to stop by Carly's to check in on Michael," Jason explained. "He's been doing good lately, and I just want to make sure he's still going to school and keeping his head on straight. He's finally on a somewhat decent track, and I want to try and keep it that way. I'd really like him to finally graduate this year. I mean, he missed a year with his coma, and then last year he barely ever went to school because he was dealing with so much. I just want to check in and make sure he's still on that right path."

"I understand. I'm glad he's doing so well, finally," Sam said. "So okay, you go make me coffee so we can get our day over with so we can come back home and play in each others' arms?" She smiled coyly at him, and as he stood up, he took hold of her hand and pulled her up with him.

"Sounds perfect."

. . . . .

Sam couldn't believe how much paper work really did need to be done. It was probably her least favorite part of the job; she would much rather be out doing field work of some kind. But since she and Spinelli were able to solve their last couple of cases fairly quickly, they were caught in a lull. She was proud of the work McCall and Jackal had done. They were still mostly solving cases involving cheating spouses, but every so often a gem of a case would arise, and Sam and Spinelli would have the best time solving them.

There was a knock at the office door, and Sam was thankful for the excuse to break from the paper work. She got up and opened it, coming face to face with what could only be described as an overly distraught couple, a man and a woman, both no older than herself. "Are you Ms. McCall?"

"I am, come in, sit down," she motioned to a couple of chairs for them to sit in, and she herself sat behind her desk. "What can I do for you?"

The woman, who was way too upset to speak herself, turned to what Sam assumed was her husband, and he began to speak. "Ms. McCall--"

"Please, call me Sam," she offered.

"Sam, I'm Ray Headley and this is my wife, Fiona. We heard you were one of the best private investigators in Port Charles, and we really need your help." Though she wouldn't refer to herself as one of the best, she knew that in the past year, she and Spinelli had made a good name for McCall and Jackal.

"Headley? I've heard that name before," Sam responded, trying to place it.

"Probably on the news," Ray responded, and it immediately clicked in Sam's head. "Our seven year daughter was abducted a couple of nights ago."

"Oh," Sam's face fell, and she turned to face Fiona, feeling nothing but sympathy for the woman. "God, I am so sorry. This whole thing is completely upsetting, I can't even imagine what you are going through."

Fiona opened her wallet and pulled out a picture of her little girl to hand to Sam. Taking it from her, Sam had to concentrate really hard on not letting her hands shake as she looked at it. She was a beautiful little girl, with bright auburn hair that matched her mother's and huge green eyes that matched her father's. "That's our Amanda."

"She's beautiful," Sam told them before looking away from the picture and up at them with curious eyes. "But I don't understand. The PCPD is working on this case. From what I understand, it's becoming pretty high profile."

"It is becoming high profile. Kids have been disappearing for two months, and maybe if the PCPD wasn't so inept and incapable they would have solved this case before our Amanda could even go missing!" Ray practically yelled. "When was the last time the PCPD did anything right? Last I checked, this town was one of the most violent ones in New York. The organized crime rate alone is outstanding, and the PCPD can't be bothered to ever gather anything they need to throw that thug Sonny Corinthos behind bars."

"Um," Sam wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

Fiona reached her hand across the desk and placed it on top of Sam's. "Ms. McCall, we are very aware of your association with Sonny Corinthos' business, more specifically, with Jason Morgan. And, while you understand that we are so desperate to bring our baby girl home we'd do anything, we were hoping that you'd be able to help with this case in ways that the PCPD would never be able to do."

"We'll pay you anything you want, Sam. We're very wealthy, money isn't an issue," Ray told her. "There are six kids missing right now. That we know of. One of them is our baby girl, our only daughter. How would you feel if your daughter went missing and the PCPD were the only people on the case? A case that has been going on for two months with absolutely no progress? I will not accept that my child disappeared into thin air!"

Sam closed her eyes, thinking for a moment about her baby girl. Thinking about how she would have gone to hell and back a million times in order to protect her. "Have you been in contact with the PCPD?"

"Of course. Ever since our Amanda went missing we've been in that police station almost every hour, trying to find out if they've got any new information."

"Who is on the case?" Sam asked.

"Detectives Spencer and Falconeri."

Sam nodded. Great. If she decided to take this case, she would have to get information out of the two detectives. One who, while she was friendly with, was mostly just awkward to talk to, and the other whom Jason despised, and who wanted nothing to do with anyone who hung around mob business, especially regarding Sonny's business. "I'll have to talk to Detective Spencer," she told them, knowing Lucky was her best bet. "And I'll need every piece of information you have on this case. I need to know everything you told the PCPD about when Amanda went missing and more."

"So you're going to help us find Amanda?" Fiona's tear filled eyes shone with hope. Even if Sam wasn't going to take this case, there was no way she'd be able to say no to the devastated mother.

Sam gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm going to help you bring Amanda and all the other children home. Now let's start from the beginning. When did you notice Amanda was missing?"

. . . . .

"God damn it!"

Jason raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he walked into Carly's place. He found Michael sitting on the sofa, a laptop on his lap, as he yelled at the screen. "Is...everything alright?" he asked his nephew.

"This stupid video game. I'm getting better, but I'm still not as good as Morgan," Michael explained. "I just want to beat him. There was a time he couldn't touch me in video games with a ten foot pole."

Jason smiled and shook his head, "shouldn't you be doing homework or something? And where is Morgan?"

"Morgan still hasn't come home from school yet, and I'll get my homework done once I finish this level. Mom's picking up Josslyn from Jax's place if you want to wait for her. She shouldn't be long, unless they start fighting or something stupid like that," Michael told him.

"I'm actually here to see you," Jason said.

Michael rolled his eyes, "you don't have to check up on me. I'm going to school. I'm getting good, well decent, grades."

"I just care about you, Michael. I'm proud of the way you've gotten on track."

"I know you do, and it means a lot that you're proud. But, seriously. I'm fine. Go home and be all overprotective on Sam instead."

Jason laughed, "Sam would probably yell at you for encouraging me to do so."

"Crap!" Michael yelled, hitting the laptop on the side with his hand. "Stupid video game."

Jason motioned for him to hand over the laptop, "here, let me have a crack at it."

"I may be bad, Jason, but you suck," Michael laughed.

"Just give me the lap top."

"It's all yours."

. . . . .

Sam was exhausted when she walked through the door into the Penthouse. Jason was sitting on the couch, a beer in his hand, and she took a moment to smile at him. "Hey you," she said, as she crossed the room to sit next to him, his arm immediately wrapping around her.

"I was expecting you to be here when I got back. Between indulging in video games with Michael for a couple hours and then Carly coming home with Josslyn, you know how Carly is, sometimes she's worse than you she doesn't stop talking, I thought you'd get back way before me," Jason told her.

"Well, I ended up having a lot more to do than just paper work," she explained. "I got a new case."

"Oh yeah? That's good. Tell me about it?"

"You know how I was telling you about the missing children, and the little girl that was on the news this morning when I fell asleep?" she asked him.

Jason raised a skeptical eyebrow, "yeah. Sam, don't tell me you're interfering with a police investigation."

"Don't be so dramatic. The little girl's parents came to me. They happen to think that the PCPD is terrible at what they do, and well, I happen to agree. They also seem to think that I have more capable resources and that I'd be the best person to help out with this case," Sam explained to him. "Besides, Jason, the whole thing makes me sick. I don't think I can just sit back and not do something about this even if I tried."

Jason brought a hand to rub his temple, "Sam, I don't know if I like this. It could be dangerous."

"And danger is one of the main reasons I became a P.I., Jason, and you know that. And forget about the danger for a minute. What if I can get those kids home?"

"The PCPD isn't going to like you meddling around in their business, Sam."

"Yeah, I know. I already talked to Lucky. I even tried to talk to Dante, but that got me no where," Sam told him.

Jason let out a groan, "Sam, seriously? Dante has a personal vendetta against Sonny and me. I'd appreciate it if you'd just stay away from him. And what about Lucky? What'd he say?"

"He basically told me to back off," Sam said with a shrug. "But that's what Spinelli is for. He'll get me all the information from the PCPD I need."

"So basically you're going to do this whether or not it keeps me up all night worrying about whether or not this is too dangerous for you to decide to single handedly solve?" Jason asked her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, "who said anything about doing this single handedly? I was hoping I'd have some good backup."

Jason smiled, "fine. Tell me what we're dealing with. Start from the top so we can decide what to do from there."

"Tomorrow, Jason," Sam told him. "There's not much we can do this late except for worry about those kids. Right now, I just want you to take me to bed."

And he did.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much for the feedback! I hope you guys continue to enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

She closed her eyes tighter, trying to block out the sun that was forcing its way into the room. Surrendering, she turned over, still wrapped in Jason's arms from the night before, and opened her eyes. She smiled as she came face to face with him, as he watched her with his intense blue eyes. "Must you always do that?"

"Do what?" he replied.

"Watch me sleep. It must be a picture of beauty watching as I drool all over myself," she sarcastically told him. "God, and please don't tell me I snore."

He laughed, pulling her closer, "no, you don't snore. You moan sometimes. I like to think it's because you're dreaming of me."

"Well, I guess it's best you think that then know the truth," she joked right back, and laughed when his smile faltered.

"You think you're funny, huh?" he asked, rolling his body over and pinning her down. He began tickling her, and she wiggled around in his arms trying her best to break free to no avail. She was feisty, he would give her that, but she was just so damn small she made it too easy to trap her down. "Take it back and I'll stop."

She could barely speak she was laughing so hard, "Jason! Come on, stop it!"

"Take it back."

"Fine! Fine, I take it back! I only dream of you!"

Stopping his assault on her stomach with his fingers, he took his arms and wrapped them loosely around her hips, pulling her closer and allowing her to catch her breath. "You surrender too easily," he told her with a smirk.

"You get jealous too easily," she fired back. She snuggled even closer to him and rested her head on his chest. They stayed like that for a moment, neither one of them wanting to move, but both knowing they would have to. "I guess I should get up and get to the office. I have to fill in Spinelli about the case and see if he can hack into the files at the PCPD to get us their progress on it. You want to come by and work with us, or do you have work to do?"

"I need to do some things for Sonny, but how about I bring by lunch later and you and Spinelli can let me know anything you find out?" he offered.

"Only if you pick up something really greasy and bad for us to eat," she said, the biggest smile on her face.

He laughed and began to climb out of the bed, but she only wrapped her arms tighter around him, making it impossible. "Sam, if we're going to get ready to go to work, you're going to have to let go of me."

"Never," she said, and with a swift movement, he picked her up and walked them both into the bathroom to shower.

. . . . .

The clicking sound of Spinelli typing away at the computer irritated her. She chalked it up to anxiety, but with every click of the keys, she found herself getting more and more agitated, and she had to stop herself more than once from yelling at her partner.

Spinelli immediately dove head first into the case, getting to work on accessing the PCPD files on the case. He had heard about the missing children on the news, and, like Sam, had felt absolutely horrible and wished there was something he could do. And now, thanks to the Headleys, there was something he could do, and he would help Sam dedicate their time to bringing those kids home. "Fair Samantha, would you power up the printer? The Jackal has located the files on the Missing Ones."

Sam made her way to the printer and turned in on, and Spinelli printed the pictures of all the kids that were missing according to the file. Sam felt her heart drop as she looked at the smiling faces of the six little kids printed out. They all looked so innocent and happy, she couldn't imagine why anyone would want to take them and harm them in any way. The thought made her sick.

"Okay, who was reported missing first?" she asked Spinelli, who had the case files all pulled up on his lap top.

"The young Julia Brown," Spinelli told her, motioning to the picture of the youngest little girl. "Two years of age. She was reported missing two months ago tomorrow. Disappeared without a trace at the park down on 5th street. According to her parents, it was as if she just vanished."

Sam took the picture of the little girl and hung it up on the bulletin board she and Spinelli had hung on the wall. "Okay, so Julia Brown. Two years old. Short light curly brown hair and green eyes. Disappeared at the park on 5th street," Sam said as she wrote down the details next to the photograph. "Who was next?"

"Abigail Smith, the blonde," Spinelli pointed to another picture. "Ten years of age, went missing about a week after Julia. She never came home from ballet class. Again, according to witnesses and Abigail's mother, she just disappeared. Vanished."

"Okay," Sam tacked the picture of Abigail under the one of Julia. "Abigail Smith, ten years old. Long blonde hair and blue eyes. Disappeared after dance class."

"Next we have our first male victim," Spinelli explained. "Robbie Jenkins, four years of age. He went missing from the private preschool on New Monmouth Road, right across the street from the school Mr. Sir's children attend. His teachers said he--"

"Just vanished?" Sam finished for him. Spinelli nodded, and Sam took the picture of the little boy and hung it underneath Abigail. "So Robbie Jenkins. For years old. Sandy brown hair and brown eyes. Missing from his preschool."

"Fair Samantha, if The Jackal may, I'm not seeing any connection between any of these children at all."

"I know what you mean. They've been abducted from all over town, they don't look the same, they aren't the same age or gender. But I mean, there has to be something, right? I mean, think about it. Serial cases like this always have some sort of...dots that are meant to be connected. There's always a pattern. Random kidnappings are one thing, but this is becoming an epidemic. Six kids in two months. There's no way this can just be random," Sam said.

Spinelli paused for a moment to consider it. "Do you think there is the slightest possibility they isn't a relation at all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Fair Samantha, it is no secret that Port Charles is not exactly the safest place. You know this first hand."

Sam looked at him, confused. "You mean you think that we just have six random kidnappings? Spinelli, that's a little extreme."

"The Jackal is merely suggesting it as a possibility. And perhaps that McCall and Jackal should simply focus on the Missing One whose parents have come seeking our services."

"Spinelli, I can't just focus on Amanda. As much as I'm dying to bring that little girl home, there are five other missing kids that I can't just forget about. Besides, what if the whole case is connected and the only way to figure it out is to focus on the whole thing as a whole," Sam explained to him.

Spinelli nodded his head in understanding, but implored further, "Fair Samantha, you usually have an objective open minded look at a vast plethora of possibilities. While what you are saying may, indeed, be correct, what if it is not? What if we really are simply dealing with six different kidnappings? Shouldn't Young Amanda be our first and only priority at the moment?"

Sam knew that Spinelli was just being professional, but there was no way she could do what he was asking her to. "Spinelli, even if none of these kidnappings are connected, I am making it my personal mission to see to it that I can help bring each and every one of those kids home. Mr. and Mrs. Headley might be our excuse to dive into this case, Spinelli, but I am not going to consider Amanda or any of these kids more important to bring home than another. As far as I'm concerned, they are all important to bring home."

"Okay," Spinelli said, knowing that Sam wouldn't rest until all these kids were safe. "Then next was James Olson. Nine years old."

. . . . .

Jason could hear the screaming from outside of Sonny's door, and he raised an eyebrow at Max, who shrugged and told him that Carly was in there. Knowing that he should probably give them space, but also knowing if he didn't get through his meeting with Sonny and get his work done quickly he wouldn't be able to meet Sam for lunch, he nodded to Max and made his way through Sonny's office door.

"Oh, Jason! Thank God!" he barely had a time to perceive what was happening before Carly flung herself into his arms. "Please tell me Morgan is at your place."

Jason looked at her confused as she let go of him, "no, why would he be at my place? Did you guys have a fight?"

"Oh, God," Carly cried, pulling out her cell phone. "I need to call Jax. If he's not here, he's not with Jason, and he's not with Jax, where in God's name could he be?"

"Wait, you mean Morgan is missing?" Jason asked, looking at Sonny for answers.

"He never went home after school yesterday. Carly had assumed he went over to Jax, because he mentioned he might, but when she called Jax to send him home last night they realized he never went. So then obviously they thought he came here, but I hadn't seen him at all yesterday," Sonny filled him in.

This didn't sound good at all to Jason. "Did you call Alexis? He and Molly are close, aren't they?"

"Molly said that she didn't see Morgan at all after school yesterday," Sonny told him.

Carly hung up the phone and walked back over to the guys, "Jax said he's going to file a report to the PCPD, but as far as he's concerned, this is just another classic example on why he doesn't want Josslyn anywhere near this life." She could barely contain her anger at Jax. That mixed with her fear for Morgan, quite frankly, she was a mess.

"Look, Carly, there aren't any threats on the organization at this time. No enemies. No one I could think that would want to take Morgan," Jason told her, and Sonny nodded his head in agreement.

"Carly, why don't you go to the police station. Talk to Dante, he cares about Morgan, maybe he can pull some strings and get this case moving as quickly and effectively as possible. Hopefully Jax will pull some strings too, and we'll get Morgan home. It could be nothing. Michael has a history of running away, maybe for some reason Morgan followed in his older brother's footsteps and we just have to bring him wrong and find out the problem," Sonny told his ex wife.

She nodded, "okay, yeah. I'm going to go over there right now. You two call me if anything comes up, and I mean anything!" They agreed, and Carly left, and once she was gone, Jason immediately turned his focus to Sonny.

"Have you been watching the news?" he asked.

"Yes. Clearly Carly hasn't been, or she'd be freaking out a lot more. She'll find out soon enough though, once she gets to the police station. What do you know about the other missing kids?"

"Not much, other than there were six of them in under two months."

"The PCPD have been working on this for two months? Obviously we'll need to take this into our own hands."

"I'm already on it, Sonny. The parents of one of the missing girls went to Sam yesterday and enlisted her help. She and Spinelli are already working on it. I'll go over there now and see if they have any new information. In the meantime, keep Carly calm and try and think of any other threats or possibilities. We don't know for a fact this kidnapping is related," Jason told him.

Sonny nodded, "but if it is, I want to make sure whoever took Morgan is taken care of, Jason," he said, his eyes dark.

Jason nodded, "of course."

. . . . .

"Okay, then. Kyle Smith, five years old. Dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. Went missing about a week ago," Sam continued, and hung up the fifth picture to the bulletin board. "And last, but not least, Amanda Headley. Seven years old. Red hair, green eyes. God, Spinelli. There's no connection between any of these kids. Not even a pattern in when they were kidnapped. It's all over the place."

"If there is a pattern, Fair Samantha, I trust you to find it," Spinelli told her.

The door suddenly burst open, and Jason made his way in like a bat out of hell, "hey, is everything okay? Where's our food?" Sam asked.

"Sam, Morgan is missing."

"What?" both Sam and Spinelli exclaimed at the same time.

"Carly said he never came from school, and neither Jax or Sonny had seen him. I mean, I was at the house yesterday, Sam, and Michael even told me himself that Morgan hadn't come home yet. It was late, he should have been home. I should have said something," Jason immediately played the guilt game.

Sam went over to him and wrapped her arms around him, "Stop. Right now. This isn't your fault, and it'll all be okay. I'm going to bring all these kids home, including Morgan."

Her words put him at ease. He trusted her completely with this.

The printer made noise, and both Sam and Jason turned to face it, realizing that while they were embracing, Spinelli had gone to his computer to print a new picture. A picture of Morgan printed out, a big smile on his face that all three of them could only hope was still on his face, and that he wasn't too afraid or hurt or anything wherever he was.

Sam walked over to the picture and hung it up on the bulletin board underneath Amanda.

"Morgan Corinthos. Eleven years old."


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you so much for the feedback! Enjoy._

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

"Okay, so what do we do?" Jason asked, looking at Sam expectantly.

"You mean you and Sonny aren't going to dive in and take control?" She asked him, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Jason held his hands up in surrender, "I trust you, Sam. This is your case. I want to be every bit a part of it, and when you figure out the bastard that is responsible for all of this, I'm going to want some alone time with him, but I'm not going to dive in and take over. You're in charge."

"Damn right I am. You and Sonny don't exactly think before you act, and we definitely need to think about this. We need to research, we need to figure out the missing pieces. And now that Morgan is involved, I'm even more confused than I already was!" Sam exclaimed.

"Fair Samantha, Mr. Sir's Offspring doesn't exactly add or take away anything we've gathered. None of these children match up in any which way," Spinelli added his two cents.

Sam shook her head, "no, Spinelli. Morgan is a different type of kidnapping. It's high profile, he's Sonny Corinthos' kid. Everyone knows that. All the other kids have parents who might have money or might be in somewhat of the public eye, but not really. Not like Morgan. If they didn't attract attention before, they sure as hell are going to now."

"What are you saying, Sam?" Jason asked.

"I'm saying that if Morgan being missing is connected with these other kids, I think he might be the key," Sam tried to explain.

Jason paused to consider it, "or Morgan's disappearance could have nothing to do with the others whatsoever."

"Also a possibility, Jason, but there's no way to be sure. Okay, here's what we're going to do. Spinelli, I need you to do background checks on all of the missing kids and their parents and just do all the research you need to do to try and find a pattern between the kids. Any kind of connection, even if it's something stupid like they've all had chicken pox, I don't care. I want every single thing that could possibly connect them," Sam told him.

Spinelli immediately began typing away on his compuer, "you got it, Fair Samantha."

"Jason, I need you to go talk to Sonny and find out for certain if this is or isn't mob related," Sam told him. "I know that things are calm right now, but I need you and Sonny to really go over everything."

Jason nodded, "yeah, I'm going to head over to Jax's too. See if he knows anything that could be suspicious. You never know when it comes to Jax."

"Okay, yeah," Sam agreed. "I'm going to head back to the PCPD and see if I can get any more information out of Lucky. I want to see what he thinks about Morgan being missing now, too, and if they have any other information that we don't."

"Lucky isn't going to like you all up in their business," Jason warned her.

"I don't care if I annoy Lucky, Jason," she told him, "I'm getting the information I need whether he likes it or not." She grabbed her jacket and threw it on. "Spinelli, I want you to call me the moment you find any connection."

"Will do, Fair Samantha."

"Sam, you call me if Lucky or anyone gives you a hard time," Jason said, and Sam raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Just, humor me and say okay."

"Okay, Jason," she smiled. "I'll meet you at the Penthouse when I'm done?"

Jason nodded, "yeah. I'm going to stop by Carly's after I talk to Sonny and Jax just to make sure she and Michael are okay, but I'll see you at home."

He leaned down and kissed her lips. "See you at home."

. . . . .

Sam made her way into the PCPD and immediately noticed the almost frantic chaos that was taking place inside. She was sure by now Carly had been here and raised her own hell, and that mixed with the other parents of the six, now seven, missing children, she was sure they were getting a lot of heat. Two months with no results wasn't anything to brag about.

"Can I help you?" one of the police officers, a really young looking guy, asked the moment she stepped through the door, his clear skepticism evident on his face. "Any parking tickets need paying? Or a mobster needing breaking out?"

She shot him a narrow glance, "I'm here to see Lucky Spencer."

"Sure you are. I'll let him know you're waiting. Go sit over there where we can see you while you wait."

"Aren't you a little young to be a police officer, Scott?" she shot at him, reading his name tag.

"Go sit down, Miss McCall. I've been warned about you and your mobster boyfriends."

She rolled her eyes, thoroughly annoyed with Scott but not annoyed enough to get kicked out of the station before she did what she was there to do, and made her way over to the gross looking chairs they had for her to wait in. She didn't have to wait long before she spotted Lucky walking passed her, his focus only on the file that was in his hand. Sam jumped up out of her seat and opened her mouth to call for him, but he spoke before she got a chance, "I told you to stay out of this, Sam."

He didn't stop walking, so Sam followed him as he made his way to his office. "Whether or not you want me to be, Lucky, I'm involved. Amanda Headley's parents came specifically to me because they don't trust the PCPD to get the job done. So you can either shut me out and let me do this and solve this case without your help, or you can make this easier on the both of us, and I won't be inclined to make the PCPD look like the bunch of buffoons it really is."

"Did you practice that speech on the way over here?" Lucky asked her, and she was far from amused. "Close the door and have a seat."

She did as she was told and got straight to business. "Let's cut to the chase, Lucky. I want to bring those kids home, and you guys have been working on this for two months. I want the information you've gathered. I'm willing to work together with you on this."

"We've got it covered, Sam," Lucky told her. "Even if I was willing to work with you on this, Dante is my partner, and he doesn't want to touch you with a ten foot pole because of your association with Jason and the business. Speaking of, why do you need me? I'm sure you've had Spinelli get all of our records on this case already anyway. And it's not like you need our resources. Now that Morgan Corinthos has been added to the list, I'm sure Sonny is pouring his blood money all over you to do whatever you need to do."

"Not all of your records are accessible on the computer. I know you and Dante have notes and theories and ideas and leads that you aren't putting where Spinelli can find it. I just want to talk with you, Lucky. Trade notes. I'm not even trying to keep anything from you, I'm willing to tell you anything I find out. It's not about the credit for me, here, Lucky. I just want to bring those kids home," she explained to him.

Lucky shook his head, "then step back and let us do our job, Sam. We're going to bring those kids home."

"Lucky, this is my job, too," she told him. "And you know me, Lucky. You know me better than most. You know that I can't just walk away from this. I can't sit back and do nothing."

Lucky sighed, "yeah, I know you can't. And I shouldn't really expect you to."

"So you're going to work with me here?" Sam asked him. "I really just want to bring these kids home, Lucky, and I think we'll be better off if we pool our resources."

"Okay, Sam, I know you're heart is in the right place and you're a damn good P.I., but I'm going to have to talk to Dante about this before I just let you in on it. It's his case, too," Lucky explained to her. "But I know he cares a great deal about Morgan, and he wants those kids home as much as you and I do. So I'll talk to him. In the meantime," he pulled out a pad and began writing down addresses, "we already checked out these places and talked to a few people, but if you want to go over there yourself, maybe we missed something. We could always use an extra pair of eyes."

He handed her the piece of paper. "What are these?"

"The locations of the places all the kids were last seen. I didn't get a chance to head over to Morgan's school yet, since Carly left not even ten minutes before you got here and my cousin is a wreck, and you know how Carly can be on a good day, so why don't I let you do that as well. By the time you're done I should have spoken to Dante, and we can go from there. That work for you?" he asked her.

She nodded her head, "yeah, it definitely works for me. It's getting late, so I'll probably go checking them out tomorrow. I'll call you after I do. I'll see you later."

"Later, Sam."

. . . . .

Jason was already exhausted, though conversations with both Sonny and Jax would do that to you. He and Sonny had gone over every single possible reason or person who would possibly want to take Morgan as a threat, and they came up completely empty, though they both had agreed to play it safe and put extra guards on Michael and, for Carly's sake though Jax would definitely not like it, on Josslyn. They also agreed for Sonny to have meetings set up with all of their associates. If one of them knew anything about Morgan's disappearance, Sonny made it his mission to find out.

Talking to Jax had been like talking to a brick wall, though a brick wall would have probably been less frustrating. While Jax had assured Jason that his number one priority at the moment was bringing Morgan home, he had also told Jason to just back off and let the PCPD do their job. All the while blaming him and Sonny for Morgan's disappearance to begin with. Jason had tried to explain to Jax calmly that not everything that happened in this town was the business' fault, but in Jax eyes, yes, everything was indeed their fault.

His head was throbbing by the time he walked into Carly's house, and the first sound that greeted him was his goddaughter's screaming and crying. "Is Carly beating your sister?" he attempted to joke when he saw Michael sitting on the couch looking rather grim.

"She's trying to get Josslyn dressed and packed. With Morgan missing, Jax is insisting that mom bring her back to his place. Mom's having a hard time explaining to the one and a half year old who just got here yesterday why she has to go back to her dad's so soon," Michael said, his voice showing the anger he felt towards his former step father.

"Your mom's letting him do that?" Jason asked, surprised. "She's not putting up more of a fight?"

"Mom's freaked out about Morgan missing, and Jax knows my mom well enough to know what buttons to press to get her to do what he wants. He's just playing on her feelings, and my little sister is getting caught up in it. Mom and I are perfectly capable of taking care of Josslyn, and Jax should know that," Michael said, standing up off of the couch and pacing around the room. "I'm supposed to be at this kid's house from school. We have a big project due at the end of this week, but I can't even begin to think about going out and doing school work. Not with Morgan out there somewhere missing. Not with mom freaking out. And with Josslyn going to Jax, I'm all mom has in this house. I can't just ignore it all."

"Michael!" Jason yelled, snapping his nephew out of his freaked out rant. "First of all, you need to stay calm, okay? You need to stay calm and strong for your mother, sister, and brother. Secondly, you have worked too hard this year to throw away your school grades by not focusing on projects or any other work. If it'll make you feel better, cancel with your partner today and invite him over here to work on it tomorrow instead. It'll calm your mom down, seeing you doing your work and keeping your focus."

"It just feels wrong doing normal things while Morgan is missing," Michael said. "I feel like I should be doing something for him instead."

"You've been working hard on getting back on track, and you know that Morgan has been proud of you. He'd want you to keep your head on straight. You need to not worry, okay? Your dad and I are taking care of it. Sam's working on the case, and I happen to trust her more than anyone in this whole world to bring your brother home," Jason told him, and Michael nodded numbly in response. "Look, why don't you tell me about this project?" Jason offered, trying to get Michael's mind back on track and off of Morgan before he did something stupid.

"What? Oh, uh it's for my contemporary history class. We're supposed to just pick an interesting case that has happened in the last century and do a whole report and oral presentation on it. Devon, he's my partner, he wants to do like a serial killer or something. We were just gonna google some articles and throw some pictures on a poster board," Michael explained.

"You know, Sam's got some old case files and interesting things at her office that she and Spinelli had collected over the years. Spinelli has this whole detective obsession or whatever, and he got Sam interested in reading about all these old cases and stuff. She claims she uses it for research, but I think she reads it as if it's a trashy novel and gets a kick out of it. But I can ask her if you and your friend could stop by tomorrow, take a look at what she's got. It might end up being better than just googling some articles and throwing pictures on a poster board," Jason offered.

Michael shrugged, "yeah, I guess that could be cool. I'll talk to Devon about it."

It was then that Carly made her way into the room, Josslyn, who's face was still tear stained, in her arms. "Jason, if I wasn't so exhausted and worn out and didn't have to take Josslyn over to Jax's, I swear to God I would yell at you so badly for not telling me that there is a kidnapping epidemic going on!" she yelled.

"This is you not yelling, mom?" Michael mumbled, and Jason shot him a look.

"I had to find out from Lucky! Who tossed Morgan's file into a much larger one, burying it with all the contents of all the other missing kids!" Carly continued to yell. "Please tell me you are doing something. Tell me you are going to bring Morgan home."

"Sam and I are on it, Carly. I promise you, we'll bring Morgan home."

. . . . .

Jason couldn't have been more relieved to finally walk through the Penthouse door. He had a headache, he was tired, and he just wanted to hold Sam in his arms. He smiled when he saw her sitting on the couch, but his smile faded when he immediately noticed the expression on her face. "Sam, is everything alright?" he asked her.

She looked up, blinking back the tears that were in her eyes, and smiled at him. "I'm fine. I was just going through some of the files Spinelli had printed out for me, and, God, Jason. These kids are so young and innocent. I just...I can't even begin to think about where they are and who has them and if he is being good to them. And, God, Morgan..."

"Sam, shhh," Jason walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "You need to relax, Sam, before this case makes you sick with worry."

"We'll bring them home, Jason," she told him. "And Morgan is a tough kid. I bet wherever he is, he's taking care of the younger ones. He has a big heart like that."

"Yes, he does," Jason agreed.

"I talked to Lucky. He's going to talk to Dante, but I think he's open to the idea of us working together and giving each other information that comes up. Which is good, because I really think the PCPD might know more than they are letting on. I mean, it's been two months! But Lucky gave me the addresses of all the places the kids were last seen so I can go check them out, which I'm going to do tomorrow. How about you? How'd it go with Jax and Sonny?"

"Sonny and I are going to set up meetings with our associates, but we don't think this is mob related. And Jax, he's all high and mighty blaming Sonny just like usual," Jason let out a frustrated sigh. "But, you know what, Sam? Enough of this for tonight. Let's just relax, okay?"

"You really think I can just turn my mind off like that?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to come with me tomorrow? I think I'll head to Morgan's school first."

"You want me to?" he asked her, and she nodded her head. "Then of course. Oh, I should mention that you might be getting a phone call from Michael tomorrow. He might want to come by the office to check out those old case articles and files you and Spinelli have for a school project."

"You keeping him distracted?" she asked.

"Trying to, but you know how he is. I was hoping we could get through the rest of his senior year without drama of any kind, but I guess that was wishful thinking."

"Please, Jason. When was the last time we went longer than a month without a new crisis?" Sam joked. "We didn't even get to enjoy Valentine's Day this year like we did last year because of Sonny's crisis of the month."

He ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was bitter about it. I'm not. I love this life with you, you know that. I love working together through the crisis and all of it," she immediately backtracked.

"But it would be nice to be able to go out once in a while or just stay in, just you and me."

"Well, yeah. But now is not the time for that," she said. "We have kids to bring home. We can't focus on ourselves."

Jason kissed her forehead, "well, we'll see about that."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm exhausted. I'm going to head to bed. You going to join me?"

"In a little while. I'm just going to go over these kids a little more and wait for Spinelli to finish his final search. There has to be a connection, you know? I just gotta find it."

"Okay, just don't wear yourself out, okay?" he told her, placing a kiss on her lips. "Love you."

"I won't. Love you, too."


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this! With all the snow I've been able to update quickly, which is awesome, because I'm really enjoying writing this! I have it all planned out, so it shouldn't take me terribly long to finish! Thanks for all the feedback, it really gets me motivated to keep writing. Enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

Jason woke up numerous times during the night, and every time he did, he reached for Sam, only to find her side of the bed still cold. He heard Spinelli come in sometime during the middle of the night, and while he expected Sam to come up shortly after, she never did. When light came through his window, and he realized she still wasn't in bed with him, he surrendered and got up, heading downstairs to find her fast asleep on the couch, her clothes still on and the case papers still in her hands.

"Oh, geez, Sam," he walked over to her and sat on the couch, moving a stray piece of hair away from her face. He carefully took the papers out of her hands and placed them on the coffee table. Leaning over to grab the throw blanket, he placed it on top of her, when she began to stir. She opened her eyes, blinking for a moment before everything could come in focus. "What happened to not working too hard?"

She stretched like a cat before sitting up and dropping her head to rest on his shoulder. "What time is it?"

"Ten in the morning. You never came upstairs, I missed you all night," he told her.

She smiled at him, "I'm sorry. I guess I got carried away."

"Did you make any connections?"

She shook her head, "no. Spinelli came up empty and I can't figure anything out. I'm hoping to find something when we go looking at the locations where the kids went missing later. You're still coming with me, right?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you. Morgan's school first?"

"Yeah," she said, before yawning. "I should go get in the shower so we can get moving."

He played with her hair casually with his fingers as he spoke, "you sure you don't want to get some more rest before we go? I don't want this case wearing you out."

She leaned up to kiss him, "no. I just want to get going."

The two of them were ready to go within the hour, and they made their way to the private school that Morgan and Molly both attended. According to Morgan's teachers and friends, including Molly, Morgan was in all of his classes, and after the dismissal bell rang, he just disappeared. Though the argument could be made that it was easy to disappear in a sea of children excited to leave school for the day, Morgan was rarely one of them. Molly had told Sonny on the phone that while Morgan usually meets her at her locker after school, that day he hadn't shown up.

Jason parked in the visitor parking lot, and Sam explained to him that Lucky had called on their behalf so they would be allowed to go into the school as visitors. "We just have to sign in at the front desk in the office, and then the principle, um, Mr. Harding, he'll show us around and stuff, woah!" Sam nearly fell as her heel got caught on the side of a manhole lid.

Jason caught her before she could fall, and raised an eyebrow as she regained her balance. "That's what you get for wearing inappropriate footwear."

"Inappropriate footwear? These happen to be a pair of my favorite heels."

"I'll never understand how you run around and stake out and jump out of windows and get involved in shootouts and everything else that we do while wearing heels like that," Jason joked.

Sam smiled, "and I look good while doing it."

"Without a doubt."

As they made their way into the main office of the school, the woman behind the front desk immediately gave them a look that reminded Sam right away of Epiphany. "Can I help you two?"

"Uh, yeah. My name is Sam McCall. Detective Lucky Spencer should have called to say I was coming? I'm supposed to meet with Mr. Harding."

The woman eyed Jason. "And he is?"

"Jason. He's with me."

"Mmhmm," the woman said, as she picked up a phone, keeping her eyes on the two of them. "Mr. Harding? A Sam McCall is here to see you," she hung up the phone and focused her attention back on the two of them. "You can go have a seat, he'll be right out."

They didn't wait long before an older man, with a resemblance to Harrison Ford, made his way over towards them, "you must be Ms. McCall? I'm Phil Harding."

"Hi, nice to meet you, you can call me Sam. This is Jason." Jason and Mr. Harding shook hands. "I was wondering if you could just show us around the school? Maybe introduce us to some of Morgan's teachers and classmates? I just want to see if we can find anything suspicious to give us some sort of lead as to where Morgan is."

"Sure, Sam, but I should tell you that our staff here includes the most experienced, educated, and professional teachers available. We only take the best, and the same goes for our students. I don't think you'll find anything from our school being the cause for this disappearance. Between you and I, I would check out his father instead. Morgan's father is none other than the Sonny Corinthos," Mr. Harding tried to bite back his disgust, but it was evident in his voice.

Sam stifled a laugh as she stole a sideways glance with Jason, "yeah, we know. Don't worry, we've been in contact with Mr. Corinthos. So the High School is right next door, right? Do the kids ever mix at all? Like during, I don't know, recess or something?"

"Some of our teaching staff work both schools, but we keep our kids for the most part separate from the high school kids. For example, one of our Social Studies teachers, Mr. Sailor, he also teaches some of the history courses at the high school," Mr. Harding told them as they walked through the halls.

Mr. Harding gave them a tour of the school, as well as introduced them to the teachers that Morgan had. They had even run into Molly at one point, who introduced her older sister to some of her and Morgan's friends, which was helpful in getting some insight into who Morgan spent his time with.

All in all, however, Sam finished up feeling dejected. She figured out nothing, she saw absolutely nothing worth remembering for a lead. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Harding. If you hear anything or see anything, please, don't hesitate to give me or Detective Spencer a call. Anything will be helpful at this point."

"Look, I'm going to be straight with the two of you. The only reason we have the Corinthos children in our school system is because of Jasper Jacks and his pull around here, and because I think some good schooling and discipline could help keep those two kids in line. Quite frankly, their father is a mobster, and violence isn't far behind Sonny Corinthos. From what I understand, this isn't the first time Morgan has supposedly gone missing," Mr. Harding told the two of them. "I wouldn't bother investigating this any further than Corinthos' front door. I wouldn't be surprised if Morgan was safer wherever he is now than home with his father."

"I'd shut your mouth if I were you," Jason threatened, his eyes growing dark, and Mr. Harding stepped back a bit in alarm.

Sam put her hand on Jason's chest, pushing him back a bit, "like I said, thank you for your time, Mr. Harding, and please keep us posted with anything that may come up," she said quickly, and pulled Jason with her as she began to walk away.

When they got back to the car, Sam slapped him on the chest. "What's wrong with you? Don't get all macho while we're investigating. I get that he overstepped a line, but he shares his views with more than half of Port Charles, and you can't blame him. Besides, even if I, too, wanted to ring his neck, we have to behave so we can come and go as we please. We have to stay on his good side," Sam scolded him.

"I know, but he had no right, Sam."

"I know, okay? Ugh, I guess I have to call Lucky and tell him that I have no leads from the school. But we should go check out the other locations, too, see if anything clicks in our heads. You--" she was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. "Oh, it's Michael," she said, then answered it. "Hey... yeah sure, I'll meet you over there...okay, bye."

"He and his friend want to check out your files?"

"Yeah," she told him. "Okay, why don't we go back to the office, help Michael and his friend, and then we can check out another location?"

"I'm actually going to drop you off and head back to the Penthouse. I have some things I need to do before Sonny and I meet with our associates. Can you handle Michael on your own?"

She nodded, "yeah sure. I'll meet you at the Penthouse later then?" she said as he pulled up to her office.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," he leaned in to kiss her before she got out of the car. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

. . . . .

When Sam made her way over to her office, she smiled at the sight of the two teenage boys sitting outside of her door waiting for her to get there, "Hey Michael."

"Hey Sam, this is my friend Devon. Devon, this is Sam," Michael introduced the two of them. "Jason said you're working on finding the missing kids and Morgan. Have you found anything out? Get any leads or anything?"

"You're investigating the kidnappings? I thought the PCPD were dealing with it," Devon asked.

"Well, let's just say the PCPD can always use some help," she winked. Sam placed a hand on Michael's shoulder, giving him a comforting squeeze. "Michael, I promise you I'm going to bring Morgan home. Now, I know you're going to worry because you love your brother, but right now, you and Devon are going to have some awesome cases to read through, so relax the best you can and let's do this project."

She unlocked her door, and the two boys followed her inside. She had made sure that before coming home the night before Spinelli had covered their bulletin board with all the missing kids on it, just in case Michael did indeed come over. She didn't want the boy worrying anymore than she was sure he already was. "Okay, guys. Spinelli has all the old case files in that filing cabinet over there. I know he has them separated by type of case, but I'm not sure which is where. I think murders are in the bottom drawer though. Let me know if you guys need anything, I'm just going to be doing some paper work at my desk."

"Alright, thanks Sam," Michael said, and he and Devon made their way over to the filing cabinet as Sam sat down at her desk to do some work. "It probably doesn't matter how hard we work on this. Mr. Sailor like hates me. I never get higher than a C no matter how hard i work in his class."

"Really? I almost always get As," Devon responded with a laugh.

"Well, it's not exactly a secret that Sailor has his favorites," Michael laughed, "and you are definitely one of them."

"So you're a private investigator?" Devon turned his attention to Sam as Michael opened the drawer and took out some files. "What exactly do you do? Is it like being a cop?"

"Um, not exactly," Sam thought about it for a moment, "cops have certain rules and stuff they have to follow. And they work to find out who committed a crime so that the so called criminal could be prosecuted according to the law. I work for a specific client who hired me on an individual basis. I don't have the same kind of rules to follow that cops do, like, I don't need to give a Miranda warning. And then I'm not bound by the law to report the crimes." Devon nodded, seemingly understanding her answer.

"I don't think these are the murder cases, Sam. This one is talking about some cult that took place upstate in the 70s," Michael spoke up.

"What kind of cult?" Devon asked.

"This guy managed to convince all these people that they had to commit suicide so they could go be with their god," Michael said, rolling his eyes. "Religious freaks. I can't believe how ridiculous those nut jobs are. I would never join a cult. It's a little strange to be that into a religion."

"Not all cults are about religion, Michael," Devon told him.

Sam nodded, "Devon is right. A lot of cults use religion as a way to attract people, but it's really more about using mind control and deceptive techniques to recruit people into this group. And then once they trick you into joining, they trick you into staying."

"Mind control? Like hypnotism and stuff like that?" Michael asked her.

"No, I think it's more like a loaded gun than some sort of irresistible force like alien powers or something you'd see in the movies," Sam continued to explain. "It's more of some sort of actual threat than an actual hypnotism. Like, 'if you leave us you'll lose all your friends and family' or 'if you don't conform you'll go to hell'."

Devon shrugged, "it says in this file that these people in this one cult joined because it accepted them. And that they lived in a community together and practiced religion, and the leaders helped save them from their sins. This one doesn't say anything about them harming one another or anyone else. It made bad people good people. So what's the big deal? It doesn't look like all cults are bad."

"Well, anything that has you going against being your own person and conforming to being a certain way and doing certain things is wrong in my eyes, no matter if there is violence or harm of any kind involved," Sam told him. "Besides, there's always something. A catch. They lure you in with deception, and then when they've totally got your trust, they tell you why you're really there. Like, take the case that Michael has in his hands. If that cult leader had been open and honest about the group and had said to new recruits, 'Join us, wear strange clothes, get castrated and then drink poison!' he would not have had many takers."

Michael laughed, "good point. Hey, maybe we should do our project on one of these cults. It might be fun. At the very least, somewhat interesting."

"No, man. Let's just stick to finding a good murder case. Let's just leave this cult stuff alone."

"Try the top drawer, I might have gotten it backwards," Sam told the two of them.

"Ah, there we go," Michael said, pulling out a file and handing it to Devon, as he dug for more.

"The Murder of Lorenzo Alcazar," Devon read the file in his hands.

Michael took it from him and handed him another, "I don't think that's a good one." Sam laughed and winked at Michael, as she went back to her paper work and left the boys alone to get their project done.

. . . . .

Sam finally walked into the Penthouse a little after dinnertime, and she was completely starving. The boys had found a murder case that excited them (in the way only teenage boys could get excited by blood and gore), and they had worked so hard, she had to practically kick them out of the office to go home and eat. She had been thinking about food the entire ride home, and was hoping that she could convince Jason to order them something good to eat.

"Jason?" she called out when she walked in, and was surprised not to find him anywhere she could see. "Jason, are you home?" She went to put her keys down on his desk when she noticed the piece of paper with his handwriting.

_Sam - meet me on the roof. -Jason_

She smiled, and didn't waste a moment, making her way up to meet him. A warm filling filled her entire body when she got out to see him sitting there, waiting for her, with a table and chairs set up and food on the table. Her stomach grumbled, and she laughed, making her way over to him. "You did this for me?"

"You said it yourself, Sam. We haven't had much alone time. I wanted you to know that even though we have crisis after crisis, usually involving Sonny, that you matter to me. You're important to me," Jason told her, his eyes staring intently into hers as she took the seat across from him.

He took her hands in his as she spoke. "Jason, this is perfect. But really, you didn't have to do this. You should be focused on Morgan, not on me."

"Sam, we're going to find those kids. I have no doubt that you won't figure this out. But in the meantime, while you're staying up all night worried sick about these kids, I'm going to take care of you. Since apparently you refuse to even think about taking care of yourself," he told her. Her stomach let out another loud growl, and they both laughed. "Your stomach agrees with me. Eat."

And she did, and it was one of the best meals she had ever eaten. They discussed briefly the kidnappings, before Jason changed the subject to ask how things went with Michael, to managing to change the subject altogether to just talking about them and their lives and how happy they've been together. "I have something for you," Jason told her, pulling out a medium sized wrapped box. "If you don't like it, you can tell me or return it and pick out something you'd rather have."

"Oh! A present!" she said excitedly, taking it from him and opening it. She let out a small gasp as she saw the bracelet. It was silver with little diamond covered stars dangling off of it. "Jason, this is...what is this for? It's not my birthday or anything. Is it? No, of course it's not. And it's not a holiday."

"Do you like it?"

"Like it? Jason, I love it!" she held it out to him, along with her wrist. "Put it on me?"

He did, and his face lit up at the sight of hers. "Seriously, Jason. You didn't have to do this."

"I know. I just wanted us to have a good night in the middle of all the crises."

"Well, thank you, Jason. I really appreciate it," she told him. "And I love the bracelet. It's perfect."

"Can you promise me something, Sam? Promise me you won't let this case consume you? I know you're really concerned about the kids, I am, too, especially Morgan. But you didn't sleep last night. And you've been working non stop. Just please, promise me you'll come to bed tonight," Jason said to her.

Sam nodded her head, "I will, Jason. I'll promise you on one condition."

"What's the condition?"

"You dance with me?"

He made a face, showing his dislike of dancing, and she was about to start badgering him, when he surprised her by standing up and holding out his hand for her to take. She did, and stood up to wrap his arms around him as they began to sway. And for the first time since she heard about the kidnappings, while in his arms, she was able to relax.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks again for all the feedback! i appreciate it a lot! also, keep the guesses coming, some of you have a lot of it already figured out! my birthday is on wednesday, so i can't promise that 'll be updating much more this week (i'll try, but it's my 21st, so you may not want me be writing in the condition i'm expecting to be in...) So anyway, enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

Sam's cell phone ringing woke the two of them up in the morning, and after talking briefly with Lucky on the phone, Sam got up out of bed to great ready and head down to the police station. Lucky had told her that while Dante wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of Sam being in their business as far as the case was concern, he wanted anything to bring the kids, especially Morgan, home, and agreed to speak with her.

She invited Jason along, but he had meetings to take care of with Sonny, hoping to either prove that Morgan disappearing had nothing to do with the mob, or find out which one of Sonny's possible enemies took him, just so that they could be a step closer to bringing him home. She kissed him goodbye and made her way out of the door. When she stepped out into the sun, she caught sight of her new bracelet sparkling in the light, and smiled, deciding to herself that this would be a good day.

When she walked into the PCPD, her good mood was immediately killed when she came face to face with Scott, the rude police officer from the last time she was at the station, sitting in charge once again of the front desk. She walked up to him, and when he didn't look up or acknowledge her presence at all, she cleared her throat. "Why don't you save us all the time and just go home, Ms. McCall. No one is in the mood to deal with your PMS today," he said, still not looking up from the newspaper in his hand.

She narrowed her eyes, doing her best not to engage in a pointless argument. "I'm here to see Lucky."

"Detective Spencer isn't in at the moment," he replied, "so I guess you can just go on back home to Jason Morgan now."

"Then I'll see Dante, is he in?" she asked, the annoyance evident in her voice.

"Detective Falconeri is busy doing his job. And even if he wasn't, I'd doubt he'd want to waste time chatting with the town mob moll."

That was it. She was done playing nice. "Okay, I don't know who you think you are, last I checked you were just some lower level newbie cop, but I'm just trying to do my job, too. So can you just go tell Dante that I'm here?"

"First of all, don't take that tone with me, Ms. McCall, or I'll have you booked so fast for mouthing off to a cop that your head will spin. Second of all, as far as doing your job is concerned, I think you're in the wrong place. The street corner is up the block a bit," he laughed at his joke, and if she weren't in a police station, she would have punched him.

"What is your problem? You don't even know me," she told him, "and if you did, I guarantee you'd know better than to treat me this way."

"Why? Are you going to send your hitman boyfriend after me?" he asked her, amused. "Go ahead. Any excuse to see him rot in jail. And as for you, why don't you be a good little girl and head on home. Let the big boys handle the cases."

She was about to lose her cool completely and yell at him for being the sexist pig she was realizing he was, when Dante made his way out into the hall, calling over to her, "Ms. McCall, good, you're here. In my office, please." She turned to give Scott a victory smirk, before turning on her heel and following Dante into his office down the hall.

He took a seat behind his desk, and motioned for her to sit in the chair he had across from it. He opened his mouth to speak once she sat, but before he could, she interrupted him. "Before you say anything, I just want you to know that I've big disrespected enough by the PCPD today. So if you only called me here to tell me to mind my own business and let you guys handle the case, save your breath. Because I'm not just going to back off."

He just stared at her for a moment before responding, "I promise you, Ms. McCall, no matter how much we disagree on certain things, I would never disrespect you. And I apologize on behalf of whoever it was who upset you. Despite our differences, I know that you are just concerned for these kids, just like the rest of us."

She could immediately see the worry in his eyes, and she relaxed out of her tense and defensive stance a bit. "You're really worried about Morgan," she stated.

"I want to bring him and the other kids home as soon as possible and throw whoever took him behind bars for life," Dante answered her. "Which is why I'm willing to meet with you in the first place. Look, I'll be honest, when Lucky came to me saying you wanted in, I was dead set against the idea. I know how your life works, I was undercover in it for longer than I want to remember. I don't want Jason Morgan stepping in and taking over and killing this guy before we can bring him to justice the right way. I don't want him dead. I want whoever took Morgan to rot in jail, miserable, for a long time. I want this done by our rules, and I was not keen on bringing you in to screw with that."

"Dante, I--"

"Please, Ms. McCall. Let me finish," he asked of her.

"Call me Sam."

"Okay, well, Sam, I thought about it and realized that I was being somewhat selfish. And I was letting my personal bias get in the way of Morgan and these other kids' safety. Lucky told me how good of a P.I. you are and at this point, we could probably use all the extra help we can get," Dante said.

Sam nodded her head, "two months and no leads?"

"It's frustrating. But I know you've done your research, can you say that you've found anything we haven't?"

"No. There aren't any connections or anything," Sam said. "Spinelli isn't so sure there is a connection. He thinks that they might not all be related at all."

"It's possible, Port Charles doesn't exactly scream 'safe place to live'," Dante agreed. "I have to ask you, and I won't hold it against you or start throwing arrest warrants at Sonny or Jason, but is there anything going on that I should know about?"

Sam shook her head, "it's calm right now. No impending wars or threats. But Sonny and Jason are meeting with some people today just to make sure. We aren't ruling out the possibility of someone kidnapping to get to Morgan, but we're pretty sure that for once, this has nothing to do with Sonny or the business at all."

"Sam, with all due respect, Morgan Corinthos was kidnapped. You bet your ass it has something, no matter how small of a something, to do with Sonny."

She didn't reply, knowing that arguing over the mob with the cop son of Sonny wasn't going to get them anywhere. She decided to switch gears, "do you have anything at all? Anything you found suspicious? Suspects? Anything?"

"I actually talked to Lucky about this just last night, he thought you might want to follow up on it for us," Dante said, looking around his desk for something. "I have the file here somewhere, hang on." He stood up to look around, to no avail, before he pushed the buzzer on his desk. "Scott, did you copy all the files this morning?"

"Yeah," Scott replied.

"Where are they?" Silence. "Scott?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Relax. I'll find them."

Dante sat back down, covering his face with his hands for a second. "I swear these new kids are more scatter brained than anyone else I've ever met."

"He lost the files?" Sam asked, her annoyance for Scott growing even more. "He's an ass."

"Okay, look, I can't find the file, but when we looked into the kids' backgrounds a bit, we found out that one of the kids, Kyle Smith--"

"Kyle Smith, five years old, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, went missing a little over a week ago, disappeared outside of the Smith's apartment building," Sam said, nodding.

Dante looked impressed, "you know these kids pretty good, I'm guessing."

"I can't stop looking at the files Spinelli and I put together," she admitted.

"I hear you. Anyway, Kyle's parents have been under investigation by social services. I called over there this morning, and apparently Kyle was supposed to be taken from his parents and placed in a foster home until they can get their act together. Alcohol problems, I think, though they wouldn't tell me exactly what the situation was," Dante explained. "I added his parents to the suspect list. It's possible cause for them to stash the kid away somewhere if he's going to be taken away from them."

"Wow, yeah," Sam agreed, interested in this new development. "But that doesn't really explain the other kids. Would the Smith's go on a kidnapping binge?"

"Probably not, but maybe Kyle isn't connected to the other kids," Dante said with a shrug, "either way, I think it's something to look into, even if it only brings Kyle home. That's one less kid missing."

Sam nodded, "I agree. You want me to go check out his parents a bit? They might be more inclined to slip and give us something we can use if they're talking to me instead of a cop. I can go undercover and just chat them up a bit."

"That's what Lucky was saying we should let you do," Dante told her. "Okay, you're a smart, capable, woman, Sam. I was really hesitant to let you anywhere near this, but it would be really irresponsible of me to cast you aside because of my personal feelings towards the way you live your life. I'll get you the address for the Smiths and have Lucky call you with it." He stood up and Sam did the same. "I just need to ask you to do one thing, Sam, and if you agree to it, then I'll let you completely in on this case."

"What's that?"

"When we figure this out, let the system deal with the kidnappers, not Jason Morgan."

"Jason wants time alone in a room with the bastard."

"So do I," Dante admitted. "But that's not the way I work."

"You should also know that Jason is his own person, we don't tell each other what we can and can't do."

"Just promise me that you won't give him the information without also giving it to us."

"That I can promise you," she said, holding out her hand, "so we've got a deal?"

He took her hand and shook it firmly, "we've got a deal."

. . . . .

Jason carelessly tossed his keys over to his desk as he made his way back into the Penthouse. He called out to Sam, not knowing whether or not she was home yet, and when she didn't respond he hung his coat up and went into the kitchen for a beer, deciding to just relax a bit.

He and Sonny met with a lot of associates, rival businesses, as well as a few people they would consider possible threats, and came up completely empty. He was starting to really believe that for once, this had nothing to do with the business. That, for whatever reason, Morgan was chosen along with a bunch of other kids by some random person who didn't have a personal vendetta with Sonny, but for an entirely different reason.

That thought scared Jason. Business threats he knew how to deal with. He knew the protocol, and even though it would still be terrifying and dangerous, he at least knew the rules involved in getting Morgan back safe and sound. But now he was clueless. This case wasn't something he knew how to deal with. And he didn't like feeling useless.

But it eased his mind to know that Sam was dedicated to solving it. He trusted her. She would bring those kids home.

He grabbed a beer and went to sit down on the couch, and the moment he did, there was a knock at the door. Letting out a frustrated groan, he stood back up, and walked over to answer it. He was surprised when he opened it to find Molly standing on the other side. "Jason! Is Sam home?" The worry and fear was noticeable in both her voice and appearance.

"Molly, what are you doing here? How'd you get here, does Alexis even know?" he asked, knowing that with Morgan missing and kids disappearing left and right, the last place Alexis would want her youngest daughter was at his penthouse.

"No, I snuck out and took a cab. I just really wanted to see Sam. Is she really trying to find Morgan? Because I know if she is, she'll find him. Sam can do anything."

Jason smiled at the confidence Molly had in her older sister, and motioned for her to go sit down on the couch. "Molly, you shouldn't have left without telling Alexis. You shouldn't go anywhere by yourself, either. Okay, I don't need to tell you that it's dangerous right now."

"I'm scared for Morgan. Aren't you?"

"Terrified," Jason admitted to her. "But like you said, Sam can do anything."

"I just want to help," Molly told him, "I was hoping Sam could tell me how I can."

"You can help by keeping safe, Molly."

"I know, I know," she said, "but that isn't enough. I shouldn't have left school that day without him. I should have waited longer, or tried to find him. Morgan always meets me at my locker at the end of the day. He didn't show up, so I just left."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"In class," Molly told him. "We have social studies together with Mr. Sailor. But that was in the morning, and I didn't see him during lunch. We usually sit with our own friends, but then we meet up after school and go home together. Do you think if I looked for him or said something and not just gone home we would have found him before he could go missing? Do you think I made a mistake by just going home?"

Comforting little girls was a little out of his comfort zone, but Sam's little sister was sitting on his couch, tears in her eyes, practically begging for assurance that she didn't do anything wrong. "You couldn't have known, Molly. And if you had looked around by yourself, you could have gone missing, yourself. And we're all thankful that right now, you and Kristina and Michael, you guys are all safe. And we're going to bring Morgan home, and he'll be safe, too. But you need to stay safe, now, okay? I know it doesn't seem like much right now, but the best way you can help is to keep yourself out of trouble."

"Okay. Thanks, Jason," Molly told him, offering a weak smile.

"Come on, let me take you home."

. . . . .

When Jason returned to the Penthouse after dropping Molly off at home, he found Sam sitting on the couch, the case files spread out over the coffee table as she typed away at the laptop that was on her lap. "When'd you get home?" he asked her.

"A little while ago," she answered him. "You got home later than I thought you would. Does that mean you and Sonny figured something out? Any leads on Morgan?"

Jason shook his head, "no. We met with a lot of people today, and I'm almost positive that this has nothing to do with the business, Sam. I won't rule it out, because it's unpredictable, but I don't think that our answers are going to come from the business."

"I don't think so, either. So what kept you out so late?"

"Molly came over, without Alexis knowing. She took a cab. I was bringing her home," Jason answered her. Before Sam could ask, he continued, "she's really worried about Morgan and wanted to make sure you were looking for him. She was blaming herself a little bit for not looking for him after school, but I told her it wasn't her fault. I think she left feeling a little better. She has full confidence in you, though," he finished with a smile.

"Well, I am the best," Sam half heartedly joked. "I met with Dante, it went pretty well. I had to promise him I wouldn't tell you anything I found out and not tell them, I guess he was afraid I'd only feed you information and let you handle it, but we came to an agreement and he and Lucky are going to keep me in the loop, which is good. As inept as the PCPD is, they do have good resources and information that could be useful."

"Yeah, that's good," Jason agreed.

"Dante actually told me that one of the families involved were actually under investigation by social services. The one missing kid, Kyle, was going to be taken from his home."

"So his parents are suspects now?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's suspicious. But Lucky is going to call me with their address and I'm going to go check them out tomorrow."

"Just be careful."

"I always am."

"Why didn't Dante just give you the addresses while you were there?"

Sam let out a grunt, "the stupid cop Scott lost it. Stupid bastard. I hate him."

"That's a strong reaction to some careless cop losing a file," Jason said, amused at Sam's reaction. "It seems pretty in line with how the PCPD operates.

"He just rubs me the wrong way, Jason. He's really rude and sexist and I just don't like him. And I think it's really sketchy that he treats me like crap and loses the file of a case I'm working in on. I called Spinelli and asked him to do a background check on him for me," Sam told him.

Jason's whole body went tense, "this guy treats you like crap?"

"Relax, Jason. Nothing I can't handle."

"According to Molly, you can do anything."

Sam smiled, "Damn straight I can."


	6. Chapter 6

_Thanks for the feedback! Some of you have this mystery all figured out, others not so much, but don't worry, i bet by the end you'll have all the pieces put together. Enjoy. _

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

"Fair Samantha, I ran a check on the less than polite officer you encountered yesterday at the police department," Spinelli said as she and Jason made their way into the office of McCall and Jackal. "He appears to be completely clean, but The Jackal can run a more advanced search if you would like."

"Could you?" Sam asked him.

"Definitely. The Jackal will do the most advanced search available."

"Thanks," she smiled at him and took a seat behind her desk, as Jason leaned against it. "Okay, Spinelli, Lucky called as we were on our way over here with directions to Kyle Smith's parents' apartment. I'm just going to print directions and Jason and I will be on our way."

As Sam mapquested the directions, Jason took the time to watch her carefully. He noticed the bags under her eyes when they had woken up that morning, and the more he watched her the rest of the morning, the more he realized that she was completely exhausted. He had noticed her tossing and turning in bed all night, being woken up more than a couple of times due to it. She was completely engrossed in this case, heart and soul, and while it made her an amazing P.I., and an amazing person, he wished that she would relax even just a little bit. "Sam, you know I'm really worried about Morgan and these kids and I want them home as much as you do, right?"

"What? Yeah, of course I know that," she said, confused by his question.

"I really think maybe we should go talk to the Smith's tomorrow instead. Why don't we just go back to the Penthouse and you can get some sleep. You're exhausted, and it's supposed to rain pretty bad later, anyway," he told her.

She turned to face him and could immediately see the concern in his eyes. "Jason, I promise you that tonight I'll make myself some tea and lay on the couch with a movie and try my best to relax. But right now, you and I are going to the Smith's." He didn't look convinced. "Look, Jason. You're going to be with me, I've got my new bracelet on, who needs to relax when I've got this much comfort and support?"

She stood up and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, and he responded by wrapping his around her waist. "You want to get going then? It's supposed to storm really badly later. I want to get you home before it does."

"Okay," she said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "You continue that search, Spinelli."

"Will do, Fair Samantha."

Jason grabbed his keys, and the two of them made their way out towards the car. As they drove, Jason noticed Sam close her eyes and drift off a bit, prompting him to drive slower, so she had more time to rest before they reached their destination. When they did, he carefully nudged her awake. "Sam? We're here."

She stretched out like a cat before taking in her surroundings, "how long was I asleep?"

"About a half hour."

"It took us a half hour to drive to the Smith's? I thought mapquest said they were like ten minutes away?"

"I took a couple detours," Jason told her, and she shot him a look. "You enjoyed the sleep. Don't even lie to me."

"Fine. I'll admit I'm tired, okay?" she said. "Now let's go check these people out." They made their way up the stoop of the apartment building, and Sam noticed right away the state that the building itself was in. It was half falling apart, and looking around, she realized that they weren't exactly in the best of neighborhoods.

She noticed the few kids playing on the stoops near the apartment, and she wanted more than anything to tell them all to go inside, or to at least find a parent to watch them. Little Kyle Smith was one of those kids not too long ago, and he was taken from the very stoop she was standing on. The thought made her shiver. "You okay?" Jason asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, and knocked on the door in front of them.

It took longer than Sam would have expected, but eventually the door opened slowly, the thick smell of alcohol hitting her as it did. She glanced over at Jason, and she knew he was smelling the same thing. She focused her attention back on the woman who stood in the doorway. Her hair, which looked like it hadn't been combed in months, was pulled up in a messy bun, and the clothes she wore were ratted and stained. She held a coffee mug in her hand, and considering what all of her senses were telling her, Sam had to wonder if the mug was actually full of coffee at all.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked in a strained voice.

"Are you Mrs. Smith?"

"Who are you?" Mrs. Smith replied, before her eyes opened wide. "Is this about Kyle? Do you know who has him?"

"No, ma'am, we don't know who has him. That's why we're here," Sam told her. "I'm Sam McCall, and this is Jason. We're investigating this case, and we just wanted to talk to you and your husband, if that's okay?"

She opened the door a little while, "I already told the police everything," she sounded completely worn out, "the social workers said he wouldn't have taken off if I weren't this way. That if I were a better parent, I wouldn't have lost sight of him, but I swear to you, he disappeared."

"Mrs. Smith, what do you remember about that day?" Sam asked, and Jason shot her a look, knowing that the odds that Mrs. Smith remembered much of anything were slim to none. "Can you tell me anything? Where were you that day? And what about your husband? Is he here? Can we talk to him?"

She shook her head, "my husband isn't in. He's at the construction site down the ways a bit working. He's there most of the time. Don't get me wrong, it's not that he doesn't want to be home, he does, we just don't have much money and he gets paid by the hour."

"About the day Kyle went missing, Mrs. Smith. Can you tell me anything?"

"Do you have any kids?" Mrs. Smith slurred out randomly.

The question took Sam back for a moment, and she hesitated before answering, "no. I don't."

"It changes you, having kids. You suddenly have all these responsibilities and this little person who needs you to love and take care of it. And you know, you look at him, and you can't help but love him. Even if you didn't think you would. And then, you know, you end up constantly letting him down. I tried my hardest, I did, I love Kyle. And social services, they want to take him away, but I promised him I'd get clean and he'd be back with me," Mrs. Smith was starting to ramble, and Sam and Jason both did their best to try and follow what she was saying. "I just want him here, I want to know he's safe, before I leave, you know?"

"You're going somewhere?" Sam asked, confused. It started to rain, and Sam wondered if Mrs. Smith would let them in, or if they would have to finish this in the rain. It looked like it was going to be the latter.

"They didn't tell you? I thought you were a cop. I told the other cop."

"Where are you going, Mrs. Smith?"

"Rehab. I told you, I'm going to get better for my boy. And I need him here before I go. I need him to know that I'll come back for him," Mrs. Smith began to get emotional. "You'll tell him that, right? When you find him, tell him to come home and I'll come back for him?"

"Mrs. Smith, I--"

"You two need to go now," she said, clearly upset. "I need to, I need to go now." Sam watched as she reached behind the door and picked up what Sam could only assume was a large liquor bottle. She closed the door before Sam or Jason could say anything else, leaving them both in silence for a minute as the rain began to come down even harder.

Jason reached over to wrap an arm around Sam. "They didn't take him, Jason," she said.

"No, Sam. I don't think she has anything to do with it," he replied. "Come on, it's pouring, let's get out of the rain."

"Do you think she'll get clean?" Sam asked him.

"I think she'll have a better chance of it if her son comes home."

"But he's not coming back here," Sam said. "I can't even imagine what he went through living with her like that."

"Sure you can, Sam," Jason told her with a shrug. "You know what it's like to have unreliable parents."

"He's only five, Jason."

He pulled her closer to him, "let's go home, Sam. It's starting to rain even harder, and we're soaked."

She took his hand in hers as they walked down the stoop, the last place Kyle was seen, and headed towards there car. They didn't get very far before Sam jerked her hand away from Jason's, "Jason! My bracelet!"

"What?" he yelled back, barely hearing her through the pouring rain.

"My bracelet! It fell off!"

A crack of lightning lit up the sky, followed closely by the roar of thunder, as Sam searched around frantically from where they stood. Jason wanted more than anything to just pull her into the car and tell her he would buy her another one, but he knew she wouldn't give up that easily. "Do you see it anywhere?" she yelled through the rain.

"Sam, I can barely see you, we're not going to find it!" he yelled back. She ignored him, or couldn't hear him, and continued to look around on the ground, that was now practically flooding. He didn't know what else to do, so he kept looking, when he caught a glimpse of a sparkle out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head quickly, he saw the bracelet, being pulled by the water in the middle of the road towards a slightly opened manhole.

Sam saw Jason whip his head around, and followed his direction, spotting the bracelet herself. She immediately rushed to it, and Jason could only watch helplessly as she narrowly missed it, and watched as it fell with the rest of the rain water into the manhole.

Sam sunk to her knees, and pushed the cover of the manhole completely over, and Jason decided that enough was enough. He grabbed her by the waist before she practically flung herself down it. "Sam! Sam, no. You'll drown! It's raining too hard! It's gone, Sam! I'm sorry, it's gone!" She struggled against him for a minute before she surrendered, and sunk into his grip. "I'm sorry, Sam."

She sat still for a moment, the water drenching her even more than she already was, the rain coming down in buckets. The exhaustion and emotional impact the case had made on her started to finally catch up to her. She didn't know which were her tears and what was the rain, but as her whole body shook with her sobs, she felt Jason hold her even tighter. "Sam, we need to get out of the rain. You're going to get sick."

He didn't want to wait for her to be ready to move, so he stood up, picking her up and holding him close to his body in his arms. He quickly made his way to the car, and sat her in the passenger seat, closing the door and quickly climbing into the driver's, turning the car and the heat on immediately. He drove carefully but quickly through the rain, wanting to get Sam home and changed out of her wet clothes and into bed. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes, taking her hand in his as she continued to cry. He knew it was more than losing the bracelet that was making her cry. She had been going on this case full force for days, and it was all catching up to her.

He pulled up to the Penthouse, and when he saw that she wasn't moving, he went over and picked her up out of the car and carried her. He made his way into the Penthouse and brought her straight upstairs, laying her down on the bed and quickly changing both his and her wet clothes. Her head hit the pillow, and he pulled the covers over her. "Sam, please. Get some sleep."

She closed her eyes and he climbed in next to her. "I'm going to bring those kids home, Jason," she whispered.

"I know you are, Sam. But right now, you need to sleep."

"I'm sorry I lost the bracelet you gave me. I really did love it, Jason."

"I know you did, Sam."

"Stupid manhole," she continued to mumble. Jason wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. She snuggled into him. "I'm going to find those kids, Jason. Morgan, too. I'm going to make sure they feel as safe as I do right now in your arms."

Her words made him smile. "Shh, Sam. Go to sleep."

And she did.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I managed to squeeze this chapter in for you all. Enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

The first thing that woke her was the throbbing headache she had. The second thing was the shrill of her cell phone. She rolled over and picked it up to answer, "hello?"

"Sam? It's Lucky."

"Oh, hey, Lucky," she said, glancing over at the clock, only to realize that it was already three in the afternoon. "Sorry, I meant to call you last night after I left Mrs. Smith's house, but I got a little sidetracked." That would be sugar coating it completely. She had an emotional breakdown, is what really happened. She blushed at the thought of her falling apart in Jason's arms the night before. Though, thank God he was there. She didn't know what would have happened if he wasn't.

"How did that go? Should I get a warrant and send a few officers over to check out their place?"

"No, Lucky," Sam told him, "I mean, if you want to double check, go ahead. But the Smiths have nothing to do with this. She's a mess, don't get me wrong. But she didn't steal her own kid."

"If you're sure about that, Sam, I'll trust your instincts. But I'm going to keep the Smiths on the suspect list in case we decide to go back to them."

Sam agreed that it would be the wisest choice, considering they had no real leads at this point still. "Oh, Lucky, speaking of. I know I might be out of line here, but you know that new cop, Scott? He's kind of young, he's usually at the front desk?"

She heard Lucky let out a frustrated sigh, "yeah, I know him. What about him?"

She bit her lip, "like I said, I might be out of line, but he just rubbed me the wrong way. He was really nasty to me and then he lost the file that Dante had on the Smiths to begin with. I don't know, there was just something really fishy about him. You don't have to put him on the official report, but I just wanted to let you know that he's on my own personal suspect list."

"He lost the file? That guy drives me crazy. I don't know if I have any reason to believe he's a suspect other than the fact that he's an asshole, but I'll add him to the list so that we can look into him anyway. Any excuse to find something on this guy to get him away from me," Lucky said, and Sam couldn't help but laugh a little. "So, you've been to Morgan's school and the Smiths' place, did you see anything that stood out about either?"

"No, but I think I'm going to check out the other locations today."

"You realize it's like already three in the afternoon, Sam?"

"Which means I better hang up the phone with you and get to work!" she said, laughing. "I'll call you later, Lucky."

"Bye Sam." She hung up her phone and threw it across the bed, as she fell right back onto her pillow.

"Sam?" she opened one of her eyes to see Jason making his way into the room. "Oh, good. You're awake. I wanted to let you sleep, but I was starting to get worried you slipped into a coma or something."

"I'm sorry I fell apart on you last night. I guess I didn't realize how stressed out I was," she told him.

He sat down next to her on the bed and ran his hand lightly through her hair. "You never have to apologize for that. But you did have me worried. You promise to take it easy now?" She raised an eyebrow. "No, of course you won't. But can you please not wear yourself out so completely again?"

"I'll try not to," she smiled at him. "I should get up. It's already three in the afternoon and I just got off the phone with Lucky. I have a few other disappearance locations to check out."

"Where at?"

"A couple of the kids went missing from parks, so I think I'll go check them out. The only thing is, with kids going missing left and right, I don't want to freak parents out by staking out the place," she paused to consider this. "I need a kid." Jason raised an eyebrow. "To borrow," she clarified.

"Isn't that why you're working on this case to begin with? Because someone decided to "borrow" a bunch of kids?"

She playfully hit him, "that's not what I mean and you know it! Maybe I'll call Nikolas and see if Spencer wants to hang out with cousin Sam for the day. I could take him to the parks and run around with him, meanwhile getting the close look of the area that I need. Besides, that kid never gets out of Wyndemere. It's win-win."

"Just be careful," he replied to her. "I'd come with you, but I have some things for Sonny that I need to take care of. You think you'll be home for dinner?"

She shrugged, "I don't know how long it'll take. But I don't want to keep Spencer out all day, so I'll move as quickly as I can."

"Well, I'll order some chinese," he told her, and she sat up to place a kiss on his lips.

"Then I'll definitely make sure I'm home," she said, and pulled out her cell phone to call Nikolas.

. . . . .

Spencer was quiet the whole car ride to the park, but when they got there, he immediately switched gears and talked her ear off. She could tell he was excited about being out at a park, and Sam made a mental note to talk to Nikolas about Spencer's well being. She knew Nikolas had only the best intentions in mind, wanting to protect Spencer from Helena and the other threats that come with being a Cassadine, he was still a little boy who needed to get out and run around and scrape his knees every so often.

"Sam! Can you help me do the monkey bars!" he called out as he took her hand and practically pulled her towards them. She lifted the little boy up when they reached the bars, and she immediately realized how short she actually was. "Sam, higher, I can't reach!" She pushed up a bit further, and he managed to grab hold. "Let go, Sam! I got them!"

"You sure?" she asked, wanting to make sure he had a good grip.

"Yeah! Let go!"

She did, and watched as he slowly and carefully made his way to the next bar. "Good job, Spencer!" she cheered him on, as she quickly looked around the rest of the park, not wanting to keep her eyes off of Spencer for long. The first thing she noticed was how empty the usually busy park was, with only a few other parents with their kids. She supposed it had everything to do with the missing children, and she hated how whoever was doing this had so many parents fearing for their children's safety, that they wouldn't even let their kids out to play.

She still, however, didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She wondered if there was anything worth seeing, at all. Maybe Spinelli was right. Maybe these kidnappings weren't connected at all. But she couldn't seem to wrap her mind around that possibility. Seven kids in two months. It was an extremely high number, even for Port Charles. There had to be something, something she just kept missing.

"Sam, help!" Her head jerked around in time only to see Spencer fall, and she immediately ran over to him on the ground.

"Spencer, are you okay?" she tried to keep her voice calm, though seeing him on the ground invoked a panicked feeling in her stomach. "You okay, sweetie?"

"Uh huh," he said, sitting up.

"Does anything hurt?" she asked him.

He shook his head, "I don't think so."

She helped him up and looked at him for any signs of scratches or bruises. "You look okay to me, but you want to know what you have to do to make sure everything is fine?" she asked him, and he shook his head. "You have to run it off."

"Run it off?" he asked, almost confused.

"Yeah, you have to run it off. And to do that, you know what we have to do?"

"What?"

"Play tag."

"Tag!" Spencer's eyes lit up as he looked at Sam, and he turned and began running in the opposite direction, with Sam following closely behind him, purposely letting him keep the lead. "You can't catch me, Sam!" he screamed in delight. She decided to kick up her speed a bit, and grabbed him around the waist.

He wiggled a bit in her grip, and as she tried to keep her balance and hold the young boy in her arms, her heel got caught on something on the ground, causing them both to tumble over. Spencer rolled over in the grass, laughing hysterically, and Sam laughed with him, knowing that bringing him home with grass stains and scratches was worth the lecture Nikolas was sure to give her, so long as she got to hear Spencer laugh.

"You fell," he said in between laughter.

"I tripped!" she said in defense, and looked down to see what exactly it was she tripped over. Her laughter immediately stopped, and she pushed away all the leaves that were on the ground covering it, just to make sure her eyes were seeing correctly. There, in the middle of the park, was a slightly opened manhole.

Her heart leaped into her throat, pounding hard as she realized she finally made a connection. There was a manhole outside of Morgan's school that her heel got caught on, and a manhole outside of the Smiths' apartment that her bracelet fell down. And now, here at the park, was another one. All three were locations where kids just vanished. And now she knew how. "Spencer, honey, I'm sorry, but I have to take you home now."

She felt bad at the disappointment that immediately washed over his face, but she had no choice. She finally had a clue, and she needed to get Spencer home so she could head over to the PCPD so they could search wherever the manholes led to. She would bet money on the fact that the kids were inside. "Come on, sweetie. I promise you and I can play at the park again sometime soon."

"You promise, Sam? Because I had a lot of fun with you."

"I promise," she told him, smiling. "Now let's get you home."

. . . . .

The Penthouse door flew open, and Jason looked up to see Michael barging in. "Well, don't you take after your mother."

"This is no time for jokes, Jason!" Michael yelled. "Where's Sam! I need to talk to her!"

"What's wrong? Sam's not here. She's--"

"Trying to bring Morgan home," Michael brought his hands to his head, frustratedly. "God, I'm being so selfish. My brother is out there missing somewhere, and I'm here freaking out about a bad grade. God, what's wrong with me!"

"Michael, relax!" Jason said, standing up and walking over to his nephew. "Relax, okay? Talk to me about this grade. What's it have to do with Sam?"

"You remember that project me and my friend Devon worked on with Sam's help?" he asked, and Jason nodded his head. "Well, we worked extremely hard on it, ask Sam, she'll tell you how true that is. I mean, we had all those really cool case files for our presentation and everything. But I got a D! I wanted to see if Sam would go over to the school and tell off Mr. Sailor for me. I mean, I'd have asked mom, but she's too worried about Morgan, I don't want to add the extra stress. Plus, mom has barged into that school so many times that she doesn't really have much credibility anymore."

Jason nodded his head, "you can wait here for Sam if you want, I don't know if there's much she can do, but you can talk to her about it... wait a minute, Mr. Sailor?"

"Yeah. He's the teacher."

"Morgan's too, right?" Jason asked. "Molly and Morgan have him for social studies or something?"

"Yeah, he teaches at both schools. Didn't you meet him when you and Sam checked out Morgan's school?"

Jason hook his head, "no. He was over at the high school when we were there. And he gave you and Devon Ds?"

"No," Michael said, and Jason looked at him confused. "I said he gave me a D. Devon got an A."

"What? I thought it was a group project. You guys worked together on it."

"We did, he made some bullshit excuse that I didn't present as well as Devon did. But truth is he just hates me, and favors Devon. He plays favorites, and it's crap!"

"And he was Morgan's teacher, too?" Jason asked again, red flags going up everywhere as he remembered Molly saying the last place she saw Morgan was in Sailor's class.

Michael looked at Jason, confused. "What? Yeah, he was Morgan's teacher. What does that have to do with anything?"

Jason ignored Michael and immediately pulled out his cell phone. Knowing that Sam was out with Spencer and not near a computer, he dialed Spinelli first. "Spinelli? It's Jason. Are you at the office?...Good, okay, I need you to do a background check for me. I want every piece of information you can find for a Mr. Sailor who teaches at both Morgan and Michael's schools." He turned to face Michael, "do you know his first name?" Michael shook his head. "Okay, no Spinelli, just find out from the school's website or something. Call me immediately with every piece of information you find out."

He hung up the phone and looked up to see Michael staring at him, his eyes full of worry and concern. "What's going on?"

"Michael, I need you to tell me everything you know about Mr. Sailor, and if Morgan has ever talked about him."

. . . . .

Sam smiled as she watched Spencer through the rear view mirror in the backseat as he counted the cars by their colors as they drove by. "That's four blue now, Sam. And three silvers and three blacks."

"No white ones yet?" she asked, playing along.

"No. No white ones yet," he answered. "Oh! There's another silver!"

She smiled back at him, and when she turned around, she let out a scream as she saw a hooded figure standing in the middle of the road, straight in front of her. She cut the wheel, trying to turn out of the way so she wouldn't hit whoever it was, but the car immediately spun out of control the moment she turned. She didn't know why the car suddenly spun out, but before she knew it, it was flipping over, and she and Spencer both screamed as it rolled over to the side of the road before coming to a stop on its side.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Spencer, are you okay?" she could barely move, but she turned around to see if he was okay. He was crying, but he didn't look to be too hurt. But looks could be deceiving, considering she felt as though she broke every single one of her ribs. "Spencer, are you hurt?"

He didn't say anything, he just kept crying, and Sam hoped to God he was just scared and not hurt. She didn't understand why the car spun so out of control. One minute she was turning quickly to get around someone standing in the middle of the road, and the next the car was flipping over. "Whoever is out there! Please, come help us!" she called, hoping whoever was standing in the middle of the road was still there. "Where is my phone," she asked out loud, looking around for where it fell.

She unbuckled her seat belt and tried to move, but a shooting pain soared through her body. "Shit, okay, Spencer, it's okay baby. Just stay calm, okay? Can you tell me where it hurts?" Before he could answer her, the car door suddenly flew open, and she looked up to see the hooded person who was standing in the middle of the road looking at them. "Oh, thank God! You need to call 911, I need to make sure he's okay."

"I'm sorry, Sam. But you need to come with me," the hooded figure said, and she could have sworn she knew his voice, though she couldn't quite place it.

"What do you mean?"

"You know too much," he said, and pulled out a long syringe. "I'm sorry, Sam, this won't hurt though."

"What? No, stop!" she yelled, trying to get out of the way of the long needle he stuck in her arm, but she was too sore, too hurt to move. "Spencer, Spencer ru--" but before she could tell the young boy to run for help, everything around her went black.


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay, birthday weekend is over, so i can get back on track and regularly update this fic. Sorry I left you for a few days with a cliffhanger. That being said, enjoy. _

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

"I don't know, I mean, he's just a teacher," Michael said, confused as to why Jason was suddenly asking him these questions, and growing worried by the look on Jason's face. "What's going on? Why do you want to know about Mr. Sailor?"

"What about Morgan? Did he ever talk about Mr. Sailor?" Jason asked, "did Mr. Sailor give Morgan bad grades, too?"

Michael shook his head, "no. He liked Mr. Sailor."

"Did Mr. Sailor ever keep Morgan after school? Did they ever spend any one on one time together?"

"Jason, I don't know! What's going on? Why are you asking me all these questions?" Michael's eyes widened in realization, "you think Mr. Sailor took Morgan?"

"Don't jump to any conclusions, Michael, I just need to you tell me if Mr. Sailor and Morgan ever spent time alone together."

"I don't know, Jason," Michael told him, trying his hardest to remember anything. "I mean, Morgan was in his history club. They met after school a few times. But I'm pretty sure other kids were in the club with him, so he wouldn't have been alone."

Jason was about to continue to grill his nephew with questions, when his cell phone began to ring. He saw it was Spinelli and answered it immediately, "did you find anything, Spinelli?"

"The Jackal checked into the Educator as you requested, Stone Cold, and while he comes from a past quite troubled, he has nothing on record of indicating he is anything you should be worried about. Not even a parking ticket. He seems to be cleaner than clean," Spinelli informed him.

"Tell me about his past, Spinelli," Jason said.

"It appears that the Educator was once bounced from foster home to foster home, though the Jackal is unsure about the whereabouts or problems regarding his biological parentage. Sources claim unfit parents as the reason, but nonetheless, social services records indicate that his time spent in foster care was... undesirable at best. It took a long time for them to place him in a home that was stable and not abusive," Spinelli continued to explain. "He was taken in by a Roger Harding."

Jason paused for a moment, "Harding? Where do I know that name from, Spinelli?"

"Harding? Like Morgan's principal?" Michael asked, only hearing half of the conversation his uncle was having on the phone, and not liking being left out at all.

"Spinelli, this Harding guy, is he now the principal at Morgan's school?" Jason asked.

"The file on record states that his career title is indeed school principal, but no school is listed."

Jason didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like that this Sailor guy's name was popping up all over the place, and he didn't like to find out that he was connected to the principal of Morgan's school. While he had no proof that either of them were as sketchy as he was starting to believe they were, something just didn't sit right with him. "Spinelli, keep looking into him. I need to call Sam."

"Right-o, Stone Cold."

He hung up the phone, and Michael was immediately filled with a million more questions than he already had, "Jason, what's going on?"

"Nothing, Michael, I just think something is off with this guy," he told him, not wanting to lie to his nephew, but at the same time wanting to downplay exactly what he was thinking. "I'm going to call Sam, why don't you go grab something to eat from the kitchen? Spinelli has all sorts of barbeque chips and stuff in there."

Knowing that Jason was only trying to get him out of the room so he could talk to Sam, Michael shook his head. "No, I'm not hungry."

"Michael, please. Go into the kitchen and get some chips." This time, Jason made it clear in his voice that Michael needed to leave the room. Hesitating for a moment, trying to hold his ground, Michael only left when Jason shot him a look letting him know he needed to get out of the room.

With Michael out of earshot temporarily, he dialed Sam's number. It rang. And rang and rang. Jason was about to hang up, knowing that Sam rarely let it ring for long before answering. He figured she was busy with Spencer, having her hands full running around with the little boy. But before he could, he heard a click and then a soft, "hello?"

The sound of the small voice on the other end startled Jason. "Spencer?"

"Yeah," it came out as a sob, and Jason immediately felt worry enter his gut.

"Spencer, where's Sam?" Silence answered him. "Spencer? Spencer are you there?"

"I'm here," his voice quivered.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh huh. We had an accident."

"An accident? Spencer, is Sam there? Where is Sam!"

"I don't know," he cried out, and Jason knew that he needed to calm down before he scared the little boy more than he already sounded.

He took a deep breath, trying his best not to freak out. "Spencer, it's Jason, Sam's friend, do you remember me?"

"Uh huh," Spencer replied, though Jason could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"Okay, now, where is Sam? Is she hurt?" he asked, a small voice inside his head scaring him and telling him that she got thrown from the car on impact, and Spencer didn't know where she went. He shook the voice from his head, and tried to focus on Spencer's voice.

"I don't know," he answered, starting to cry even more.

"Are you hurt, Spencer?" Jason asked, hoping the little boy was only scared, and not hurt.

"No, but I want to go home!"

"Spencer, I need you to try and tell me where Sam went. Did an ambulance take her? Are you in the hospital?"

"No, we crashed, and then he took her."

The worry in his stomach was officially fear. "Who took her, Spencer?"

"I don't know, she didn't want to go, though, but he made her," he was crying harder now.

Realization started to hit Jason. "Spencer, are you still in the car?"

"Yes."

He immediately grabbed his jacket and threw it on, "Spencer, look around for me, okay? Do you know where you are? I'm going to come get you. Do you see a street sign or anything? Can you tell me where you are?"

"I don't know," the little boy choked out in between sobs.

"Okay, you and Sam went to the park, right?" he asked, trying to figure out his location.

"Yeah, and we were going home." Good, now all Jason had to do was go to the park Sam had told him she was going to, and leave there in what he would hope was the same road Sam decided to take back to get Spencer home.

"Okay, Spencer, I'm going to keep talking to you on the phone, okay? I'm coming to get you."

Michael made his way out of the kitchen, "Jason, what's going on?"

He covered the mouth piece of the phone, "Spencer and Sam were in an accident, Spencer doesn't know where Sam is, but apparently someone took her. I need to go get to him and find Sam."

"I'm coming with you," Michael said.

"No, stay here."

"Jason, give me the phone. I'll talk to Spencer and you can drive."

Jason paused for a moment, and knowing that arguing with Michael was like arguing with a brick wall most of the time, decided there wasn't time to go back and forth, and gave him the phone as the two of them went running towards his car.

"Spencer? Hi, it's Michael."

. . . . .

"Jason, over there!" Michael called out the moment he saw the upturned car on the side of the road. "Oh, shit. Spencer, we see you, okay? We're coming up now," he told the little boy on the phone.

Jason pulled the car over quickly, and the two of them climbed out and ran over to the crashed car. Jason got to it first, and pulled open the one door he could and stuck his head in, finding Spencer in the backseat, still buckled in, with tears falling down his face as he held onto Sam's cell phone for dear life. "Spencer, hey, it's me, Jason. I'm going to help you out, okay?"

"Uh huh," the little boy replied.

"Are you sure you aren't hurt?" Jason asked, knowing that you weren't supposed to remove accident victims from the car, but not having the heart to leave Spencer in there any longer.

"No."

"Okay, I'm going to help you out." Michael made his way over and Jason told him to hold the door open.

"Jason, did you see the sharp things on the ground? The tires are all slashed from them." Michael said, his voice showing how nervous he was about the situation. "I don't think this was an accident."

Jason reached into the car and Spencer immediately wrapped his little arms around Jason's neck, and Jason lifted him out of the car. The little boy continued to cry, holding on to Jason as if his life depended on it, and still not letting go of Sam's cell phone, even though Michael had hung up on the other end when they parked the car. "You're okay, buddy, I got you. We're going to call your dad and get you home, okay?"

"You think we should take him to General Hospital?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, but I need to find Sam, so call and ambulance. Call Nikolas, too, his number is in Sam's phone. Tell him that Spencer and Sam got into an accident, that Spencer is okay, but we're bringing him to GH just to be sure," Jason instructed.

Michael nodded his head and dialed for an ambulance. "Hi, I, uh, I need an ambulance. There was an accident, and there's a little boy here who needs to be checked out at the hospital."

As Michael talked to the 9-1-1 operator, Jason did his best to get some answers from Spencer. "Spencer, I need you to try and tell me who took Sam. Did you see what he looked like?"

"No, he had a hood on his head," Spencer cried. "Is Sam going to be okay?"

"Sam will be fine, Spencer, I just need to find her," Jason told the scared little boy.

Spencer nodded his head that was burrowed into Jason's shoulder. "He put her to sleep. He gave her a shot and she fell asleep and then he took her and disappeared."

Jason closed his eyes, realizing from Spencer's explanation that whoever took Sam had sedated her first. "It's okay, buddy. I'm going to find her."

They heard the ambulance as it began to approach, and Jason handed Spencer over to Michael. "Make sure you call Nikolas like I said. Go with Spencer to the hospital. I need to find Sam," he ordered his nephew. "Call Lucky or Dante, too, and tell them everything that happened."

"You want the police involved?" Michael asked, shocked.

"Just do what I'm telling you, Michael."

Michael was about to argue with him, as the paramedics began to climb out of the ambulance and took Spencer from Michael's arms, but Jason didn't wait to hear what was being said or what Michael was about to argue, he took off, searching the grounds by the car for some sort of clue as to where Sam was taken.

. . . . .

Her eyelids felt heavy, and when she opened them, she realized there was almost no point. It was practically too dark wherever she was to see anyway. She tried to sit up, but immediately became aware of the fact that her arms were spread out wide and tied down. She struggled against the bindings, trying to see how tight they were and if she'd be able to get herself loose. "Sam, don't do that. Relax."

"Relax? I'm tied down to something, after being sedated and kidnapped, and you want me to relax?" she yelled. "Who are you, where are you, and what do you want?"

"Look, I'm sorry I had to sedate you. I didn't want to, but they promised me it wouldn't hurt you. Are your wrists okay? I tied them tight, because they told me you couldn't be able to get out of them, but I didn't want to tie them too tightly, either." He came closer to her, and she could almost make out his face.

She gasped, "Devon?"

"Yeah, oh, your eyes will adjust to the darkness in a moment," he told her. "I actually have to go, but you won't be alone for long. One of them will probably come check on you. They'll explain everything. I need to go check on the kids now."

"The kids?" Sam's eyes opened wide. "Oh my God, Devon, you've been kidnapping the kids?"

"What?" he asked, shocked that he would think that. "No! I didn't take them. I've been taking care of them. They're fine, you don't have to worry about them."

"Devon, who then took the kids? And why am I here? Who are you working for?"

"You think I'm working for someone?" he asked, confused. "I don't understand. I think you've got it wrong, Sam. I don't work for them, they're my family."

"Your mom and dad? They did this?" Sam asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Devon shook his head, "no. My mom and dad died a long time ago. But blood doesn't make family, Sam. Family is just... people who will do anything to protect someone. That's what we do. We take care of each other. We save each other."

"Save each other from what?"

"From bad people," Devon said with a shrug. "And from becoming bad people."


	9. Chapter 9

_Enjoy. _

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

"Devon, you need to explain to me what's going on," Sam tried to keep Michael's friend talking to her. She wanted answers, and she also didn't want to be left alone. "Who is protecting these kids? Who is in charge of all of this?"

Devon didn't understand, "what do you mean in charge of? No one is in charge of anyone. We're a family, Sam."

"Devon, do you remember when we talked about cults?" she asked him, trying to understand what was going on. "Is that what's going on right now? Because I can help you, Devon. I can get you out of here and make sure you don't get blamed for any of this."

"It's not a cult, Sam! Sure, they get a little religious sometimes, but what's so bad about that? People go to church and pray and stuff all the time. It doesn't make them a cult, does it?" Devon began to ramble. "And we aren't hurting anyone, I promise you. The only reason they had me tie you up is so that you didn't leave or freak out or hurt yourself or someone else."

Sam shook her head, "we talked about this, Devon! Cults don't have to be violent to be a cult. You know that kidnapping is wrong, don't you? But you're taking part in it, anyway! Michael is your friend, and you let someone take his brother and not tell him that you know where Morgan is! You know better than that, you know that this is wrong! Just untie me and I'll get you help, Devon. I'll make sure you are taken care of. Just untie me and tell me where those kids are." She didn't know how to handle this. She knew there was probably a protocol for dealing with a brainwashed cult victim, but she didn't know what it was.

"Morgan was in danger, Sam, don't you understand that? All of those kids were. Just like I was. But not anymore. And Morgan is safe here. Away from Sonny Corinthos."

"It's not up to you to decide who is in danger and who isn't! And it's definitely not your place to steal these kids from their homes!" she tried to make Devon see reason. "What about Michael? You left him with Sonny, and he's your friend. If Sonny is such a danger, why not get Michael out, too?"

"I wanted to bring Michael here, but they told me it was too late for him. He is beyond saving. Morgan wasn't," Devon tried to explain. "Why don't you understand? These kids are safe here! We're loved here! Nothing bad is going to happen to them."

She could tell Devon was getting upset, and she wondered if it was because deep down, he knew all of this was wrong. "What about Spencer? Did you take him, too? Is he safe?"

"Spencer?"

"The little boy in the car, did you take him?" she practically yelled.

Devon shook his head, "no. But don't worry, I'm going to make sure he gets home. I wouldn't leave him there alone. I'm sorry the two of you crashed so bad. I didn't mean for that to happen, I just wanted you to stop."

"Devon, listen to me. You're a good kid, I know you are. I understand that whoever took you here told you that they are protecting you, but they aren't. It isn't right to kidnap children. It isn't right to take these kids from their homes. Please, let me help you. I can get you out of here," Sam tried her best.

"Devon," a man's voice suddenly rang out. "Go check on the children. I need to have a word with Sam." The man stepped closer to the two of them, and Sam didn't recognize him. He held a little girl in his arms, who Sam immediately knew was Julia Brown. She had studied the missing children's files enough times to recognize the two year old who was the first to go missing. The little girl wasn't fussing, but she was definitely not comfortable or content. She looked afraid and confused, and Sam wanted nothing more than to reach out and take her into her arms.

"Yes, sir," Devon replied, looking back at Sam before disappearing down a corridor.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. McCall. I've heard a lot about you," the man began. "We've been watching your progress on this case. We didn't for this to escalate to this level, but you just figured out more than we're willing to ignore."

"Who are you?" she asked, pulling on her arms and legs that were tied too strongly for her to break free.

The man smiled softly at her, and if she wasn't in the situation she was in, she would have seen it as a nice gesture. However, considering the situation, it only seemed creepy. "My name is Anthony Sailor."

She gasped, "Michael's teacher?"

"Morgan's, too," he nodded. "Anyway, I'm here to answer any of the questions you might have. Also, I brought Julia here with me to prove to you that the kids are okay. I know that you were really worried about them. I wanted to show you that we're doing a good thing here."

"A good thing? You have got to be kidding me! Devon is completely clueless on what's right and what's wrong. These kids were taken from their homes. You have me tied up like some sort of animal! How is any of that good?" she yelled.

"Sam, please. Don't raise your voice," he looked down at the little girl in his hands, "Julia, earmuffs." Sam watched as the little girl in his arms covered her ears and closed her eyes. "Now, I am going to explain to you about what we're doing here. I know you're a smart woman, Sam, and you've been doing a lot of research, so I think you've almost got all the pieces put together. When I was young, I was bounced from horrible foster home to horrible foster home, dealing with abuse and situations you wouldn't even believe. It wasn't until I was placed with the man who started all of this that I felt like I was finally somewhere safe. And he completely turned my life around. I went from being an angry, troubled, rebellious kid, into a functioning part of society. Thanks to faith and the kindness this man showed me, I survived."

"Okay, that's fine. But what does that have to do with kidnapping kids?"

"I wasn't the only one saved. The man who took me in had taken in many troubled teens over the years, all of whom joined our family. We found Devon a few years ago. His parents had died, and his aunt was going to take him in, but she didn't want anything to do with him. He rebelled a lot, desperate for attention and guidance. So we took him in. We taught him about God and how everyone has a purpose and needs to be saved from sin. It wasn't until recently we decided to take it all a step further. Why only save foster kids when there are children out there stuck in their homes who need the same protection and the same savior from sin?"

Sam shook her head, "so you decided to kidnap them all? Who are you to decide who is in a safe home and who isn't!"

"Please, Ms. McCall, don't be so naive. You've seen how Sonny Corinthos' lifestyle ruined his son, Michael's, life. The violence and the danger that man brings to his family is a sin. So we took Morgan in hopes of saving him from the danger and from becoming like his devil of a father. And I know you met with the Smith woman. You must have seen what a mess she was. You have no idea what life was for Kyle in that house," Anthony Sailor explained.

"Mrs. Smith is entering rehab! She's trying to turn her life around for her son, who belongs in social services custody, not yours!"

"The Headley's don't care for their daughter for any other reason than an added possession. She rounds out their perfect rich family picture. It's a societal thing. She does not get the attention she needs, and she'd have grown up alone if not for us."

"It's not your decision! She's not your child! And if you had such a problem with the way their parents were raising their kids, why not call social services on them?"

"Little Julia here? Her mother is a drug addict, her daddy long gone. Her mother barely remembered to feed her."

"You have no right to take these kids!" Sam repeated. "We can get them help elsewhere. You can't just go and steal children!"

"We've done our own research. Are you honestly going to tell me that when you were a child, if someone were to come and save you with the promise of gaining faith and a better life, you wouldn't have been better off?" he asked her.

Sam wasn't quite sure how to answer that. "It doesn't matter. This isn't your decision to make. Who died and made you God?"

"Are you honestly going to tell me you want me to bring these children back into the poisoned environment they were in?"

"Anthony, why don't you let me deal with Sam from here. She and I need to get a few things ready before the ceremony. Go make sure the children and everyone else is ready," another man made his way into the room, and Sam recognized his voice. "Hello, Sam."

She finally had all the pieces. "You're Morgan's principal. Mr. Harding. You and Sailor scope the kids out and kidnap them. Because you think they're better off here?"

Anthony didn't leave, he moved to the side, Julia still in his arms, and watched as Mr. Harding spoke with Sam. "I am under the impression that you don't understand why we do the things we do, Sam, but that's really not important to me. You may not understand, but it's what we believe. We can debate whether or not it is right or wrong until we are blue in the face, but the fact remains that we should just agree to disagree," he told her. "Anthony, put Julia down and help me lift the cross."

Sam stared at Mr. Harding for a moment, confused by his words. But when he walked over to the side where one of her arms was tied and Anthony went to the other, her eyes opened wide and fear entered her body. She was tied to a cross, and as they lifted it up into an upright position, she looked around the room and saw all the lit candles and religious symbols and paintings throughout the walls and room. This could not end well for her. "What're you doing? Why am I tied to this?"

"You're one of us, Sam," Anthony spoke up. "You started off in a poisonous environment, and because of it, you have your own sins that need to be atoned for."

"Atoned for?" she asked, not understanding.

"You see, Sam," Mr. Harding spoke up. "I don't know how much of the Catholic religion or Jesus Christ you are familiar with, but these children we have here have sins that were brought upon them from the parents they were born into. And we need to save them from these sins. We need you to save them from these sins."

Sam still didn't understand. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You die for their sins, Sam."

. . . . .

Jason searched frantically around the entire area Sam's car was crashed near, coming up completely empty. There wasn't a foot print in the mud or anything left behind to indicate which direction they left in. It was as if Sam just vanished, and there was no way in hell Jason could accept that. He heard the police sirens in the distance and knew that Michael must have followed through and called Lucky or Dante.

He went back over to the car as the police car pulled up, and both Lucky and Dante climbed out. "Jason, what happened?" Lucky asked him. "Michael said Sam was kidnapped?"

"Do you think it has to do with the case she was working on?" Dante asked.

"I don't know, I don't really know anything. But it looks like the car was set up to crash, and Spencer implied that Sam was stuck with a needle by some guy that made her unconscious. The guy took her and now she's gone," Jason frantically told them. "And I can't find any trace of her anywhere!"

"There are sharp nail looking things sticking up from the road over here," Dante said, as he checked out the area. "They were definitely placed here on purpose. Someone wanted Sam to crash."

Lucky looked over at Dante, and started walking over towards him to check out the nails, "who would want to take Sam, though, woah!" he yelled out as he tripped and fell to the ground. "What the hell did I just trip over?"

Jason rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was work with tweedle dee and tweedle dum, but he knew they knew more about the case Sam was working on than he did. "You tripped over a manhole. Sam did that the other day--" he stopped mid sentence. "Wait a minute."

"What?" Dante asked.

"When we were at the school, Sam tripped over a manhole. And then she dropped her bracelet down one outside of the Smiths' apartment."

"What are the odds that Sam has really bad luck when it comes to manholes?" Lucky asked, and the three of them stared at each other for half a second before all moving quickly towards the manhole and pulling the cover off of it completely. They all looked and saw a light flickering at the bottom, as well as a ladder leading down. "What are the odds that you let us call for backup and go down there without getting involved?" Lucky asked Jason, but he was already making his decent. "I'll call for backup," Lucky turned and said to Dante. "You go down with him while I wait for the others to get here."

Jason made his way down the long ladder, with Dante following right behind him, as quickly as he possibly could without slipping and falling. He would do Sam no good unconscious or bleeding out of his head, and he did not want the PCPD working alone without him to get her.

When they made it to the bottom of the manhole, Dante looked up from where they came. He made a whistling sound. "Long way down."

"Let's just find Sam," Jason replied, and began moving quickly through the tunnel.

They continued down another hallway, when Dante reached out and stopped Jason, "shh, listen!" he said, and Jason paused. They both heard the sounds of voices coming from the distance. They quietly, but quickly, followed the sound when they came across a door with light coming from the bottom. Jason pulled his gun out from his back pocket, and Dante pulled his out of his holster as well. Dante reached out to turn the doorknob, but with a swift kick, Jason had it open.

A few startled screams came from the room Jason had kicked into, and it took both Jason and Dante a moment to register what they were seeing. It was a large room with toys sprawled everywhere. The ground in it was covered with a soft rug, and there was even a T.V. on the wall that was turned on to cartoons. It was a playroom. A nice one, at that. "What the--" Dante said, but before he could say anything else, a voice called out to him.

"Dante! Uncle Jason!" Jason was nearly knocked over at the force of his nephew, running into him and wrapping his arms around him tightly. "I knew you both would come!"

"Morgan!" Dante said, and Morgan transferred from Jason over to Dante, hugging him tightly as well. "Thank God, you're okay!"

"They all are," Jason said, motioning towards the five other kids in the room.

"Wait, where's the seventh kid? There's only six in here."

"Mr. Sailor came and took Julia a little while ago," Morgan told them, as the other kids watched on, curious and shy. "He took me here. He and Mr. Harding both did. They're trying to keep us here, too. They don't want us going home. They said our homes are bad and they're just protecting us. I don't want to stay here though, I don't care if my dad is bad, I love him and mom and Jax and I want to go back to them."

"We're going to get you home, Morgan, don't worry," Dante told his younger brother. "All of you kids. Are you all okay? No one is hurt?"

"Me, Abby, and James have been taking care of the little kids," Morgan told them, motioning towards the two other kids who looked closest to Morgan's age. "And they've been feeding us and stuff. They haven't been bad to us at all."

"Thank God," Dante mused, and turned to Jason. "Backup should be here any minute, and we can get these kids out of here."

"Morgan, have you seen Sam? Do you know where she is?" Jason asked.

Morgan looked at his uncle confused, "Sam's here?"

Jason turned to face Dante, "you stay with the kids. I need to go find Sam."

"What's going on here?" Devon asked, as he made his way in the room.

He barely had anytime to register what was going on before Jason grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. "Where is Sam!"

"Jason!" Dante yelled, not liking the way Jason was handling the situation, but at the same time wanting to get answers just as desperately, so he didn't bother stopping any of it from happening. "There are kids here, you need to calm down."

"Tell me where Sam is right now, or I'll put a bullet between your eyes!"

"She's in the main hall! They're getting ready for the ceremony!" Devon yelled, and Jason immediately let him go and he fell to the ground.

"What ceremony!" Jason barked at him. "And where is the main hall!"

"Jason! What's going on?" Lucky asked, as he and a bunch of cops made their way into the room. "Holy shit, the kids. Get them out of here! Call an ambulance and get these kids to General Hospital to make sure they're okay." Lucky ordered. "Who did this? Where's the people responsible?" He asked, looking around.

"They're in the main hall! Everyone is! They're getting ready for the ceremony. I don't know what it is, but Sam's a big part of it. That's all they would tell me!" Devon shook as he spoke to Jason, who glared at him with hard eyes.

Jason turned to Dante, "I'm going to get Sam!" he yelled, and took off, knowing that the kids would be safe now that the police were there.

"I'll come with you," Dante said, and as he and Jason took off running, they both could hear Lucky instructing a few of the police officers they left behind to take the kids out of there and instructed a few others to follow him, as he followed Dante and Jason, so they could arrest whoever was responsible for this.


	10. Chapter 10

_Hello, all! So this update is a little shorter than the usual ones, but it is action packed and i hope you enjoy it! thanks again for all the feedback, it really helps me get motivated to write this and excited to get this showdown underway. also, the song that's at the beginning of the first chapter and also in this one is the song "Stealing Babies" by Our Lady Peace. it's a great song if you're interested in listening to it, about stealing the innocence from children. Anyway, enjoy!!_

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

_Eve stands alone_  
_By the knock on the door_  
_ By the thin in her bones_  
_ She's courageous & loving _

_Exhausted & cold _  
_ She's not ready to go _  
_But the ghost on the phone _  
_Helps her safely into her dream_

**-x-x-x-**

"You're going to... crucify me?" Sam asked, her eyes opening wide with the fear of realizing this was no joke. This was a cult. They can sugar coat it with ideas of good intentions on saving children, but truth was, the road to hell was paved with good intentions and crazy ideals.

She watched as other hooded people made their way into the room, each carrying a lit candle and circling around the cross she was tied to. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she turned her gaze away from the cult members and onto the little girl sitting on the floor in the corner. Her eyes met little Julia's, and she could see the confusion and fear in the baby girl's eyes. She wanted nothing more in that moment to jump from that cross and grab that little girl, shielding her from what Sam could only imagine she was about to witness.

"You should consider this an honor, Sam," Mr. Harding spoke, as he handed off a can of what Sam immediately recognized to be gasoline to Anthony Sailor. She barely listened to what Mr. Harding was saying to her as she watched Anthony pour the gasoline around the ground by the foot of the cross. They were going to burn her alive. "These children need you as much as they need me, Sam. Your sins, along with theirs, will be burned away with you. And when they are marked on the forehead with your ashes, they will be saved. All thanks to you and me."

Sam looked back over to the little girl in the corner, who didn't take her wide eyes off of Sam. "You can't let them see this. Please, don't let the kids watch me burn." It was her last request. If anything else, she hoped going missing sent off flags to Jason to find her. She hoped that Spencer was able to take her phone and call for help. She hoped that between Jason and Lucky and Dante, they would figure out to search for her down here. If she was going to have to die, she hoped that by going missing, Jason would look for her and find the kids instead.

"They need to watch as their sins burn away," Mr. Harding answered her. "I appreciate you doing this for us, Sam. Now, if you have any more questions, now is the time to ask. The ceremony needs to begin shortly, and I do not want your departure to be one filled with too many unanswered questions."

Sam shook her head. She was done talking to these people. She had heard enough. "Sir, Devon still has not returned with the children. Shall I go get them?" Anthony asked.

Before he could answer, the large door in the corner burst open, and Sam felt relief fill her entire body when she saw that it wasn't Devon with the kids on the other side, but Jason, with Dante right close behind him. Jason had his gun held out in front of him, as did Dante, and Sam knew this was not going to be pretty. She looked over at the little girl on the floor again, who was still looking up at her. While she didn't want to bark orders at little Julia, she knew she had to do whatever she could to protect her from seeing too much of this. "Julia! Earmuffs!" she called out to the little girl, who immediately put her hands to her ears and closed her big eyes tight.

Just in time, too, because once Jason was able to assess everything going on in the room, once he saw all of the hooded people circled around a cross and looked up in horror to find Sam tied to it, everything inside of him snapped. "Jason! Don't shoot, I've got it!" Dante said, trying to get in front of him. "You're all under arrest!"

"I think not," Mr. Harding responded. "Do you really think we'd go on without making sure we'd be able to protect ourselves and our children from this?" He reached under his robe and pulled out a large hunting knife, throwing it right towards Jason. It narrowly missed, sticking right into the wall next to his head, and he and Dante both watched as the rest of the hooded men and women in the room pulled out their own knives.

"I take it back, Jason, but do not shoot to kill!" Dante ordered, as Lucky and the other police men made their way into the room.

"Fat chance," Jason said, as all hell broke loose in the room. Knives were being thrown, gun shots fired, but Jason ignored it all as he hurried passed the chaos to get to Sam. "Sam! Oh, God, are you okay?"

"Jason, I'm fine!" she called back to him. "Go get Julia! I'll be fine, just make sure that little girl is okay!"

Jason paused for half a second, confused as to what she was talking about, when he turned and spotted the little girl covering her ears with her eyes closed shut quivering in the corner of the room, much too close to all the chaos and war that was going on around them in the room. He turned from Sam to run and grab her, hoping to shield her in his arms from getting hurt, when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder that brought him to his knees.

Anthony Sailor smirked as Jason looked up at him, realizing that Anthony stabbed him in the shoulder, so deeply the knife was stuck into him. "You son of a bitch," Jason said, trying to fight out the pain to get back up.

Anthony didn't miss a beat and kicked Jason swiftly in the face. As Jason attempted to recover, he threw the candle he was holding onto the ground by the foot of the cross, and the entire area surrounding Sam blew up in flames. She immediately screamed out, her feet and legs barely out of the way and the fire growing strongly. "Oh, shit!" Jason heard Dante call out, and as he tried to raise once again, he watched as Anthony raised his arm, a large knife in his hand, pointed directly at Jason's heart.

A gunshot was fired, and Jason watched as Anthony slumped forward, gasping for air before losing his breath altogether, a bullet hole right through his heart. He looked up and spot Dante with the smoking gun, and nodded at the man, thankful for Dante having his back, "you get Sam," Dante told him, "I have arrests to make."

Jason quickly glanced around the room and watched as more and more of the hooded people were being arrested and dragged out of the room by the police, and he quickly made his way over to Sam. He tried his best to reach for the rope that tied her feet to the pole, wanting to free her legs from the burns he could already see were forming. But it was too hot, and he couldn't untie it no matter how hard he tried. "Jason! Just go get Julia, forget about me! Get those kids away from here!"

He ignored her and pulled the knife that Anthony had lodged into his shoulder out, cursing at the pain it caused him, and ignored the hotness and pain of the fire as he cut the rope off of Sam's legs. He got as close to her as he possible could to reach up and cut off her hands, and as she began to fall, he caught her before the fire could.

He held her tightly for a moment, her body trembling ever so slightly, and he knew his probably was as well. Seeing her up there like some sort of sick human sacrifice filled him with rage, and he knew it would take a long time to get that nightmare of a picture out of his mind.

He wanted to ignore the rest of the chaos in the room and carry her out of there and to General Hospital, but before he could even comprehend what was going on, she wiggled her way out of his grip and onto the ground. The impact of the ground on the burns on her feet made her yell out and fall to her knees, but when he reached out to grab her and pick her back up, she quickly maneuvered out of his reach and over to the little girl in the corner of the room.

She wrapped her arms around Julia, whispering to her that everything would be okay, and Jason watched as the little girl wrapped her arms tightly around Sam's neck. That was the last kid needing saving, the others all escorted out of the tunnels by the police officers under Lucky's orders and probably already on their way to General Hospital. Jason didn't understand much of what was going on, or why the children were there in the first place, but he could be more relieved that it was over.

He made his way over to Sam, reaching for her and helping her slowly to her burned feet, Julia holding onto her neck for dear life. "Let's get out of here," Jason told her, "the police will finish up with the arrests." He wanted to get both Sam and Julia to the hospital as quickly as possible, putting a rare trust in the police to finish up the dirty work.

"Jason! Look out!" They all turned around at the sound of Lucky's voice to find Mr. Harding standing hardly a foot away from them, pointing a gun. "Put the gun down! You're under arrest!" Lucky yelled at him, holding a gun on him as he held a gun on Jason and Sam.

Dante also made his way over, his gun pointed at Mr. Harding. The rest of the policemen had their hands full with the other cult members, trying to make arrests and keep the rest of the room under control, as the cross burned in the background. "Put your gun down!" Dante also ordered. "The gig is up, you're done with! Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be!"

It was a bad situation. Not only was Mr. Harding close enough to put a bullet in between Jason or Sam or even little Julia's eyes, but because he was even holding a gun on all three of them, it was too risky for Lucky or Dante to take the chance of shooting at him first. They were in dire straits, and they all held their breath as they waited to see how this would play out. One mistake, one wrong move, and the game was over. The only question was, who would the game be over for.

"You are a piece of work," Mr. Harding spoke. "You've ruined everything, Sam! And now because of you, these children will continue to live out their shitty excuse of a life! How on earth can you live with yourself, knowing what you are bringing those kids back to! How can you sleep at night knowing that you are the reason those kids will be tortured with an existence that is worthless!"

"Put the gun down!" Lucky said again, keeping police protocol in check. "Back away from them and put the gun down. You don't want to make this any worse."

"That little girl in your arms? She'll die in a month when you put her back in the hell of a home she comes from. You're killing her. And it's only a matter of time before Morgan ends up a target of Sonny Corinthos' life style. Amanda will continue to fade into the distance until she is so much of a nobody, her life is meaningless to her. Kyle? Kyle's mom will get cleaned up for a week, she'll get the boy back, and then go back to her old ways. All of these kids are going to be destroyed, and that's all on you!" Mr. Harding yelled.

Sam didn't waiver. "This alternative would have ruined them faster. I will make sure each and every one of these kids leave here and go to a life they deserve. If that's not with their parents? Then fine. I'll find something much better, where they can be loved and taken care of and most importantly not brain washed or traumatized!"

"You're finished, Harding!" Jason yelled, "put the gun down and accept that!"

"You may have ruined everything I planned, everything I built. But I will not let you get away with your sins," Mr. Harding responded. "If I can only accomplish one thing it will be to make sure you pay for the sins you have done, and the sins you are continuing to do. Enjoy Hell, Samantha." He held the gun up and pointed right at Sam's head, and she closed her eyes tight, trying her best to shield the little girl in her arms from getting anything remotely close to hurt. She felt Jason's arm wrap around her, and she braced herself for the worst.

A millisecond of time that seemed more like a lifetime passed, and a gun was fired.


	11. Chapter 11

_We're nearing the end of this fic. I never intended it to be very long. I'm glad you guys have been enjoying, and maybe when I'm done with this i'll start a new one or work on one of the others that i've apparently abandoned. we'll see. anyway, there's probably one or two more chapters after this. we'll see how it goes. enjoy. _

_

* * *

_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

Everything moved in slow motion.

All Sam knew that she was going to shield the little girl in her arms. From a bullet, from seeing anything that was happening, from the terror of it all, from everything. She knew turning her body away from Harding was a bad idea, she wouldn't be able to see him fire, and would have no chance of quickly jumping out of the way. But she knew that if she didn't turn her body around, if she didn't use her body as a shield, little Julia in her arms would be just as directly in the line of fire as she was.

She felt Jason's strong arms wrap around her, and while she wanted to push him out of the way so he couldn't get hurt, she knew his body was much more efficient in protecting Julia. So that's where they were. Standing in a tunnel below a manhole. With a cross burning behind them. With a crazy cult leader pointing a gun directly at them. Protecting the little girl between them. Hoping for the best.

She heard the sound of a gun shot, and braced herself for the worst. Her eyes closed tight, she held on tightly to Julia, who held on even tighter to Sam's neck.

But nothing came. No pain, no impact. Nothing. And before Sam could register anything else, she felt Jason's arms let go, and opened her eyes and watched as he made his way over to Lucky, who was forcing Harding to the ground and into handcuffs.

She didn't understand. Had he fired and missed? Did he really have that bad of aim? And why was Jason helping Lucky? Where did Dante disappear to? All the questions fired off in her head, but she could barely focus to figure out the answers to them all. The little girl in her arms held on even tighter, if that was even possible, and Sam shifted so that she could see over Julia's head.

It was then that she noticed the blood pouring from Harding's shoulder. He wasn't the one who fired the gun - he was fired at. She couldn't believe Dante or Lucky would even take that risk, especially with a little girl involved. But Dante and Lucky weren't stupid, they knew that would be too risky. Someone else must have fired a gun. But if not any of them, then who?

She turned her head to gaze over towards the door, and she found Dante, and her answer. in front of Dante knelt Devon as he was being put into handcuffs, a smoking gun on the floor in front of him. His eyes were blank, his face pale, and Sam's heart immediately went out to him. Devon had shot a gun at Harding, the leader of the cult Devon was unknowingly a part of. A cult the confused teenage boy considered a family.

"Devon! How could you! You betrayed me! You betrayed everything!" Harding yelled as Lucky finished putting him in the handcuffs and began telling him his rights.

Devon numbly shook his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We weren't supposed to hurt anyone."

Lucky roughly escorted Harding out of the main room, following the rest of the policemen who were arresting the remaining cult members. Dante pulled Devon up off of the ground, and followed suit, but Sam called out to them. "Dante! He's just a kid, he's a victim, he didn't--"

Dante cut Sam short, "don't worry, Sam. I'll take care of him from here. Get yourself and the kid to General Hospital."

She watched as Dante left with Devon, and when she went to take a step forward, she was reminded just how badly she was burned. Letting out a yell at the pain, her knees buckled and she began to fall, only to be caught by Jason, who lifted both her and the little girl in her arms up into his. "You got her?" he asked, as he adjusted Sam so he could easily maneuver the two of them.

"Yeah, just get us out of here," she replied, and as they left, she watched the cross as it continued to burn.

. . . . .

General Hospital was packed with doctors, nurses, policemen, reporters, along with the families of the missing children who had been notified that their children were finally found. It was chaos. Each of the six children were brought into a room to be immediately checked out, and policemen stood by to make sure they got the statements they needed. The reporters were doing their best to get all and any information they could, and the parents of the kids were out of control.

Carly was probably the most out of control of all the parents, yelling at Dr. Webber for Morgan to be checked and double checked and double checked again. Right beside her were the Headleys, using their money and power so that their daughter could get the best care.

It wasn't long before Steven Webber and Patrick Drake decided enough was enough, and kicked out the policemen and reporters, and told all the parents to wait calmly in the waiting room. They didn't want to keep the kids away from their families longer than they had to, but at the rate they were going, the parents being around weren't helping any.

By the time Jason ran into General Hospital with Sam and Julia in his arms, the chaos had calmed down completely. Robin immediately ran over, asking what had happened, and leaving out the gruesome details of a cult inspired crucifixion, Jason explained that Sam was badly burned on her feet and legs, and that Julia was the seventh and final missing child. A doctor came over with a stretcher for Sam to climb onto, and Robin attempted to take Julia out of Sam's arms.

The little girl refused to budge, still holding on to Sam for dear life. "Baby girl, Robin is going to take care of you, okay? Go to Robin," she whispered to Julia, who loosened her grip on Sam's neck. "Just take her, Robin. I'm not feeling so well."

The moment Robin managed to take Julia from Sam, the whole room began to spin. She turned to face Jason, who held her hand in his tightly, his eyes full of concern and focused only on her. "Jason, tell the police or the doctors or whoever you have to just... don't let those kids go home with their parents."

"Sam, what are you talking about?" he asked her.

"Harding wanted to save those kids from a bad life, Jason. Just make sure we don't send them back to a bad life," she told him. Before she could say any more, the pain from the burns on her legs finally got the best of her, and her body did the only thing it could to end it. She blacked out.

. . . . .

Jason hung up the phone with Lucky, who promised to immediately contact child services. Knowing what they already did about Kyle Silver's mom, as well as knowing that people could see Sonny Corinthos as a threat to Morgan's well being, Lucky didn't see any reason not to believe what Sam had to say. As Dante questioned Harding further, they knew that those kids, while safe from Harding and Sailor and their sick cult, were possibly still not very safe at all. General Hospital was contacted, and told not to release any of those children into their parent's custody until further investigation.

"Jason!" he turned his head to see his best friend running towards him. "Oh, Jason! I knew you'd bring Morgan home!"

Carly launched herself into his arms, and he held her tightly. Jax stood behind her, and he nodded to Jason, letting him know that he appreciated him bringing Morgan home, no matter the differences they share with each other. "Carly, save your thanks for Sam. She did this. She found all these kids."

"Where is she now?" Carly asked.

"She's unconscious right now. She was badly burned. Morgan's psycho of a principal tied her up to a cross and was going to burn her alive," he spoke with contempt.

Carly gasped. "Morgan's principal did this?"

"Him and one of the teachers, Anthony Sailor," Jason explained.

Both Carly and Jax couldn't believe it. "I'm going to see to it that every single faculty member of that school is immediately investigated. I am not taking any chances," Jax told them, and immediately picked up his cell phone to make the call.

"Mom!" Michael yelled, making his way over to them, Nikolas Spencer following behind him. "Jason! Did you find Morgan? Sam? Is that why everyone is all over the place? You found all the kids?"

"Michael, what are you doing here?" Carly asked, confused.

"He brought Spencer here," Nikolas answered for her.

"Is Spencer okay?" Jason asked, knowing how scared the little boy had been when he found him.

Nikolas nodded his head, "he's shaken up, but he'll be okay. I was in the process of signing him out when all the chaos started. What's going on? Is Sam okay? You found her, right? Michael filled me in on everything he knew."

"Sam will be okay, she's being taken care of right now," Jason explained, as Carly filled Michael in on Morgan being fine, and being checked out as well. Jason immediately felt a tug of guilt at the fact that now Carly would have to go through an investigation to see whether or not she was a fit parent for Morgan, but he knew that it had to be done to make sure that the other six kids were going to be safe. Nikolas and Carly began to speak, and Jason took the moment to excuse himself from them, wanting to go and be with Sam.

. . . . .

Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself facing the familiar white walls of the hospital room. "I think I've had this exact room before. I remember that mark on the wall, the one under that stupid ugly hospital painting," she said, knowing that Jason was by her side, sitting vigil with worry, even though she was sure he had been told that she would be fine.

"Maybe you should try not ending up here so often," he replied, and stood up, leaning over to kiss her forehead. "How you feeling? You want me to get a doctor?"

"I'm fine. I mean, I'm pretty sure they pumped enough drugs in me to last a while. I can't even feel my legs," her eyes widened, "that's not a bad thing, is it? I still have legs, right?"

Jason chuckled in amusement. "Yeah, you still have legs. You're just going to have to keep off them for a while. You got burned pretty badly."

"You know, if it wasn't completely insane. And scary. And dangerous. And painful. I'd probably find the fact that they basically made me Jesus really really funny," Sam said, and Jason just stared at her for a moment as she began to laugh. "I mean, come on. Me? Jesus? Unlikely."

"Sam, you just saved seven kids, eight if you include Devon, from a tragic unstable life in a cult. I'd say you aren't half bad."

Her eyes opened wide, "wait! The children! How are they Jason? Did you keep them from going home? Are their home lives going to be looked into? How's Morgan? Is he okay? Is Carly here? What about Julia? Is she okay? And--"

"Sam, please, slow down," Jason interrupted her. "Lucky and Dante, after speaking with me and Harding, called the hospital and they are not releasing the kids to their parents without an investigation by child services first. As for Morgan, he's being checked out now, but Carly said he'll be okay. She's here and couldn't be thrilled or thank you enough for bringing him home. And I can ask Robin about Julia for you in a little bit, okay? Anything else?"

"Spencer?"

"Spencer is okay. I spoke to Nikolas. A little shaken up, but he'll be okay."

"Thank God," Sam let out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe how messed up all of this was. I mean, Devon? Jason, that kid had no idea he was even in a cult. And even if he did, he refused to believe that all cults were bad. He was just a victim in this, Jason. And he ended up saving our lives, I just--"

"You can talk to Lucky or Dante about him after you've gotten your rest and taken care of yourself first," Jason said, ending her train of thought. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Sam, you've been going nonstop with this case. You've brought those kids home. You're making sure they're going to be safe. You've solved this case and gone beyond what was asked of you. And now, you're going to use your time in this hospital to sleep."

"But I want to--"

"Sam, get some sleep. I'm going to sit right here. When you wake, I'll let you run around and finish any loose ends you need to."

"Promise?" she asked, her eyelids feeling heavier and heavier.

"Promise. Now go to sleep."

And, knowing that the kids were safe and she had done everything she could, she did.


	12. Chapter 12

_this chapter goes out to my good friend Toph, who has been doing school papers all week and should take a break and read and enjoy this, bahaha. thanks again everyone for all of the feedback, its much appreciated! so i hope you enjoy. _

_

* * *

  
_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

"I just want to have a word with Ms. McCall."

"You can have a word with her when she's awake and feeling better and when I say so."

Sam slowly opened her eyes, the noise of the conversation going on around her as well as the protective grasp Jason suddenly took on her hand waking her up from the deep sleep she was in. "It's okay, I'm awake. What's going on?"

"Sam, you don't have to work right now, okay? She can come back," Jason said, and Sam brought a hand up to cup his cheek, the soft gesture her best attempt at stopping the worry she knew she put on his face.

She sat up, looking at the woman who stood in the hospital doorway. "It's okay. I'm feeling fine and well rested."

The woman smiled, "well, Ms. McCall, I'm Ainsley Adams from Child Protective Services. It's my understanding that you are the reason Detective Spencer contacted us last night to immediately investigate the seven children's home lives?"

"Yeah, I had reason to believe some of them might not have been safe, and please, call me Sam."

"Well, Sam, after Detective Spencer faxed me over his report after questioning Thomas Harding, I'd say you had a very good reason to believe what you did," Ainsley explained, "and we worked around the clock all last night to start our investigation. I just wanted to come by and personally thank you. It would have been all too easy to solve the case you were working on, bring Amanda Headley home to her parents, and then wash your hands of the whole ordeal. You did good, Sam."

Sam bit her lip, "if you don't mind me asking, exactly how good did I do?"

"Normally I don't release my case information to anyone not involved in my business, but I think as long as you consider this a follow up to your case, I can divulge some of this information," Ainsley told her with a wink. "Morgan Corinthos, Robbie Jenkins, and Amanda Headley have all been released into custody of their parents late last night and are able to go home once the hospital releases them. We didn't find any immediate danger for them, but we will be investigating closely on both of the children's well being in their household. Robbie and Amanda both come from rich families, and according to the reports from Detective Spencer, Mr. Harding's concern was that their rich parents weren't paying attention to them. We can't take children out of their home just because someone may not think their parents pay them enough attention. But because I'm invested into this, I'm going to make sure that they are both in a safe and loving environment regardless. Furthermore, until further notice, Morgan is not allowed in his father, Sonny Corinthos', care."

Sam felt Jason tense next to her, and she immediately felt guilty for what Morgan and his family would have to go through because of these investigations. She looked over at Jason and met his gaze, and he, knowing she was feeling guilty for something she had no choice in doing, he gave her hand a squeeze in support. "Okay, what about the other four?"

"Well, as I know you already had information on, Kyle Smith's case has already been in progress. His mother is set to enter rehab early tomorrow morning, and we are going to find him a temporary foster home while she cleans up her act. The ideal situation would be that she sobers and with help from us and her sponsor turns her life around. I want more than anything to be able to bring Kyle back home with his mother," Ainsley explained. "Now, Abigail Smith, no relation to Kyle, from what we understand and are still investigating further before we release her, she lives with her single father in a small, run down apartment down town. He's unemployed and in debt, but works odd end jobs 'round the clock, and Abbey is left alone a lot to take care of herself. He has all the best intentions, doing his best to support himself and his daughter, but he just can't seem to cut it. Our goal is to find him a job and find a way for him to support himself and Abbey without her having to take care of herself in the process."

"If he needs some money to get him started, I'm willing to help where I can," Jason spoke up, and if it was even possible, Sam fell in love with him even more.

Aisnley nodded in gratitude, "I'll extend the offer to Mr. Smith as well as give him your phone number if you want to leave that information with me. Now, James Olson and his mother have both been turned over to a domestic abuse case worker. Based on investigation from last night alone, it is clear that both James and his mother are victims of abuse from his father. They've both been taken out of their home and a police investigation is pending, but I promise you, Sam, I will follow through and make sure they are both safe."

"Oh God," Sam muttered under her breath. "You found all of this out last night while I was sleeping?"

"Like I said, Sam, I'm invested, as are my coworkers. We will make sure each and every one of those children are safe."

"What about the little girl we brought in last night," Jason asked.

"Yeah, Julia. What about her?"

Aisnley took a breath before speaking. "From what I understand, Ms. Brown was contacted yesterday the moment her daughter was brought into the hospital. An...Epiphany? spoke with her. However, that was the last time anyone came in contact with her. The address location we have was found empty yesterday. We have Detective Spencer going to try and track her down for us today. But I have to tell you, Sam, it does not look good. The apartment we searched was definitely lived in, but disgusting with mold and garbage and drugs. There was barely any food in the refrigerator that seemed to have been broken anyway. We will most likely, pending what Detective Spencer turns up with, release Julia into the foster system."

Sam numbly nodded. "But they will all be okay, right? You'll make sure that each and every one of these kids are okay?"

"I promise you, Sam. I do not treat any case lightly."

. . . . .

A few hours later, Jason wheeled Sam out of her hospital room and towards the nurses station to sign her out. She was already complaining about the fact that she couldn't use her feet or legs, and Jason knew that it was going to be a long few weeks while her burns healed. Sam was going to go crazy with restlessness, and he wondered just how long it would take before she ignored her doctor's, and his, wishes and got up and ran a mile anyway.

"Jason! Sam!" They both turned around at the sound of Carly's voice as she walked out of what they both could assume was Morgan's hospital room and over to them. "Glad to see you're both okay. While you slept, Sam, I had to practically drag Jason to get his stab wound checked out."

Sam looked up at Jason with wide eyes. "Jason! I completely forgot about that! Are you okay? Did you need stitches? How deep was--"

"Sam, relax. I'm fine."

Sam nodded and turned her attention back on Carly. "Carly, I am so sorry about the investigation. I really never wanted to have to put you through this, especially after just getting Morgan back. If there is anything I can do to help--"

"Sam, anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?" Carly interrupted her. "It'll be fine, Sam. You did what you had to do, Jason explained it all to me last night. As for the investigation, please. Between me, Jax, and Sonny, I can confidently say we'll get them off our backs. But that's not why I came out here to get you."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Carly? Something happen?"

"Jason and Dante explained to Morgan last night how none of the kids would have been rescued if not for you. He wants to talk to you."

Sam looked up at Jason. "Wheel me to Morgan's room?"

"Sure thing."

Carly held the door open as Jason wheeled Sam in, and Morgan immediately shot up in bed, his eyes wide as he looked at her. "Sam! You're hurt? Did they do something to you? What happened?" he fired off the questions without stopping to take a breath.

"I'm fine, Morgan," she told him, knowing better than to tell the little boy about being hung from a cross. The thought still freaked her out, no need to put anyone else through that. "Just a little burned on my feet, so I'll have to stay off of them for a while. How about you? I'm so glad to see that you're safe."

Morgan nodded his head, "I'm fine. We all were. I mean, I hate that Mr. Harding and Mr. Sailor took us. And I don't really know what they were going to do with us, but we weren't hurt or anything."

"Jason told me you helped take care of the other kids. That's really good of you, Morgan. I'm proud of you for it."

"Yeah, well, me and the other older kids made sure the younger ones didn't cry too much or anything," Morgan said with a shrug. "Devon helped, too. Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going to happen to Devon? He was Michael's friend, I just don't understand."

Carly stepped in to help field the question. "Honey, Lucky and Dante are going to make sure Devon is taken care of. He'll be in trouble for taking part in all of this, but they know that he's just a kid, so they will make sure that he's taken care of."

"You're probably a little young to understand, Morgan, but Devon was basically brainwashed. And if you had spent enough time with Harding and Sailor, you would have ended up the same way," Jason helped in answering.

"But he was Michael's friend," Morgan, again, pointed out. "I just don't understand."

His eyes met Sam's and she tried to explain in a way he might get, but couldn't find the words. It was a difficult situation. "Devon needs help. And hopefully Lucky and Dante will be able to figure out a way to give it to him."

Carly ran a hand through her son's hair. "You should probably get some rest now, Morgan."

"Yeah, Jason and I should leave anyway," Sam said.

"Thank you, Sam. For finding us," Morgan told her. "You, too, Jason."

"We love you, Morgan."

"Love you, too."

. . . . .

"You ready to get home?" Jason asked, as he wheeled Sam towards the elevator.

"You have no idea," Sam answered, and as the elevator doors opened, they both came face to face with Lucky. "Lucky! How's everything going? How's Devon? What about Harding? Tell me you are going to throw his ass in jail for a long, long time for this."

"Don't worry, Sam. Our case is strong against him. He won't be a problem ever again," Lucky told her. "As for Devon, someone is coming to take him to Shadybrook for an evaluation later today. He's clearly a victim in all of this, and he needs help. They're going to figure out the best form of treatment, whether it be medication or just therapy. I'll keep you posted on it, though. It's just really unfortunate. His records all show that he was a good, decent kid."

"Look, Lucky, I'm sure Sam will end up bugging you guys at the office soon enough, but please, let me take her home. You two can talk tomorrow," Jason said.

Sam shot him a look. "I'm fine, Jason, come on."

"You've been going nonstop for weeks. The kids are home and are going to be safe. My main concern is you," Jason said, placing a kiss on her forehead. He lingered there for a moment before pressing his forehead against hers. "I just can't get that picture of you on that burning cross out of my head." The emotion was thick in his voice, and she could also see Lucky visibly cringe out of the corner of her eyes. She shook at the thought, and Jason wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a moment.

Lucky cleared his throat, reminding them that he was still there. "Sam, go home and rest up. If you need anything, let me know. We'll work something out so that you can help Dante and I finalize everything and close this case. We couldn't have done it without you, and I know Dante feels the same."

"Thank you, Lucky. I would have done anything to get those kids home."

Jason and Lucky nodded cordially at one another before Jason began pushing Sam once again towards the elevator. Before they made it, they heard Sam's name, once again, being called out. "Seriously, I just want to get you home. Why can't we ever just go home," Jason said, causing both Sam and Lucky to laugh.

They turned to spot Robin making their way over to them. "Sam! I need to ask you a huge favor."

"Robin, Sam needs to go home and rest. She's had a rough couple days."

"What do you need, Robin?" Sam asked, ignoring Jason.

"The little girl you brought in last night, she seemed really comfortable with you. We can't get her to eat or anything, she cries anytime anyone walks in the room. She won't sleep either. I'm concerned about her weight and growth, and I really don't want to have to put her on a tube or do anything drastic if I don't have to. Could you try and see if you could get her to eat?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, definitely. Take me to her," Sam said, and Jason hesitantly let Robin wheel Sam away and over towards Julia's room, as he and Lucky stayed behind.

Robin opened the door and immediately, Julia started crying. She wheeled Sam next to the baby's bed, and Sam immediately tried to comfort her. "Hey, baby girl. You remember me?" she reached a hand out and ran her fingers through the little girl's extremely curly hair. "Jules, baby, you need to eat. And sleep."

Julia's crying began to cease as she saw Sam, and she held her hands out for Sam to pick her up. She looked over at Robin, who nodded her head, letting her know it was okay. She took the little girl into her arms, and Robin handed her a bottle that was filled with the nutrients Julia needed. "A bottle?" Sam asked.

"She's really underdeveloped, Sam," Robin explained. "I don't even know that she's ever had solid foods." Sam's heart broke for the two year old in her arms, and she smiled when she saw Julia drink from the bottle she held to her. "Thank God," Robin mused. "I knew she'd trust you."

"It'll be okay, little one," Sam spoke to Julia. "You'll be safe soon. I promise. All of you kids will be."

Outside the door, Jason and Lucky watched as Robin and Sam fed Julia, and did their best to get the little girl to sleep. "It makes you think about certain things, seeing the kids. I just got back from one of the kids, James Olson's, home a few hours ago. We arrested his father. The kid had bruises and broken ribs and I don't even want to think about what would happen had we not gotten the tip from Harding that the home life sucked," Lucky began. "I'm not saying Harding and his cult members kidnapping these kids was a good thing, but it worked out for the best, didn't it?"

"No, what worked out for the best is that Sam's heart and soul was in this case," Jason corrected. "If it were up to me, Harding himself would be hanging from a burning cross."

Lucky laughed, "well, for once, I think I'll agree with you. I just wish it was over, you know? I wish we could just bring those kids home. A kidnapping is enough to deal with, don't you think? But no. We can't even just bring all those kids to a home to be hugged forever by their parents. And that's what really sucks about all of this."

"I agree," Jason said.

"Detective Spencer! Can I have a word with you please?" Ainsley called from the other side of the room.

"Sure thing," Lucky answered, then turned to face Jason. "Tell Sam to call me and we'll close the case together."

"I will," Jason told him, and Lucky went to speak with Ainsley. He focused his attention back on Sam and Robin, and smiled sadly at the sight of the little girl sleeping soundly in Sam's arms. He watched as Robin took her from Sam and placed her back into her bed, and he couldn't help but think that this was far from over for Julia and James and Kyle and the kids who needed more help than just being saved from a crazy cult leader. Bringing them home was only the beginning, and he, just as much as he was sure Sam did, wanted to make sure every single one of them was completely safe before considering this over.


	13. Chapter 13

_And this is the last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this journey with me. Thanks for all of the feedback._

_

* * *

  
_

**Stealing Babies**

**-x-x-x-**

_"...School principal is under arrest for the kidnappings of..."_

_"...In what appears to be the result of a cult, two faculty members of a local school..."_

_"...Faculty members are being investigated, but it appears that the ring leader was the principal..."_

_"...Thanks to a woman named Sam McCall as well as Detectives Lucky Spencer and Dante Falconeri of the PCPD..." _

Sam picked up the remote control and turned the television off. It was a week later, and still all the news could talk about was Harding and the children he kidnapped that she helped return. She was tired of hearing about it. She sat on the couch, her bandaged feet pulled up from the ground. As far as she was concerned, it still wasn't a happy ending.

She couldn't be happier that the children were saved from Harding, that wasn't her issue with it at all. Her issue was that, while investigations were still underway, not all of those children were home safe quite yet. And between worrying about that and being frustrated by Jason refusing to let her walk anywhere on her own, she was beginning to go a little crazy.

"Sam? You okay?" Jason made his way into the room, not liking the way Sam was staring blankly at the now turned off television set.

She looked up at him, doing her best to smile. "How badly would you object to me going down to the police station to meet with Lucky and Dante?"

"Sam, you really should stay off your feet a little longer," he frowned.

"Jason, seriously, you've been great, okay? Really great. Like, amazingly great. But if you carry me one more time when you see me attempt to get up, I just might have to punch you. Hard. In the face," she told him seriously. "I'm restless. I'm restless and Lucky and Dante have been patiently waiting to finalize the paper work for me to be able to walk around. I can walk around, Jason, I swear it doesn't hurt." He shot her a look. "Okay, it hurts, but only a little. And seriously, I need to get back on my feet. Just, come on, Jason. You can agree to let me go, or you can get pissed off later when I go anyway. Your choice."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay. There and back. And when you get back, I get to pamper you."

"And I'm going to stop by the child services office to check in with Ainsley about the kids' case progress," she told him. "But sure, when I get home, feel free to pamper away. I won't argue there."

"Fine. Just, please, take it easy?" he implored her. "I'm going to go over to Carly's to check on Morgan and Michael. The investigation has been hard on Morgan, and this whole Devon situation has been hard on Michael. I just want to make sure they're living their lives and aren't letting this get to them all that much."

Sam brought her feet down to the ground, and cringed as she put pressure on them, attempting to stand up. Jason was immediately at her side, and took her hands and helped hold her up a bit as she adjusted. "Just, don't move for a second. I just need to get used to it."

"Sam--"

"Jason, please. I promise you I'll be fine." She slowly let go of him, and let out the breath she was holding. "See? Okay, I'm good."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," she said. His face was close to hers, and her heart began beating fast at the intensity in his gaze. "Jason, stop looking at me like that," she whispered.

"Like what?"

"Like you're going to devour me."

Jason smiled, "can you blame me? It's always some sort of crisis with us. One just ended. Maybe we should, I don't know, take advantage of the situation and focus on us. Focus on you."

"On me?"

"Yeah," he told her. "Tonight. Let me focus on you."

She leaned in to kiss him. "Only if you let me focus on you right back. You're right. It would be nice to focus on us for once. On our lives together."

"So it's a date?"

"It's a date."

. . . . .

Sam made her way into the PCPD, limping a bit, and wishing she had taken Jason's advice and popped a couple pain pills before leaving the penthouse. She knew, ideally, she should be off her feet for a while longer, but she had work to do, and she waited long enough. She made her way up to the front desk, her intention to let Lucky or Dante know she was there, but was surprised to find no one behind the desk.

Before she could ask someone around to let the detectives know she was there, she was spun around by a brute force and slammed against the wall. Confused by the sudden force, as well as the added shooting pain in her feet, it took her a moment before she could focus on Scott's face in front of her as he held her arms tightly. "You've got a lot of nerve, bitch."

"Let go of me. Right. Now," she told him through gritted teeth.

"You think I wouldn't find out that you named me as a suspect in your stupid case?" he yelled at her. "You ended up looking like the clueless bitch you really are! You should have just left the case to the big boys, you dumb cun--"

Before Sam could attack him back, like she wanted to, he was being thrown off her and shoved against the wall himself by Dante. "You think it's okay to touch a woman, let alone show her that kind of disrespect! Do you?" he yelled at the other officer. "You're a sorry excuse for a police officer, and a sorry excuse for a human being, and if it were up to me, you would be thrown in jail for even thinking about treating a woman like you just treated her!"

"What is going on out here?" Mac yelled, as he and Lucky entered the room that was now buzzing with police officers as Dante continued to hold Scott against the wall.

"This punk attacked Sam," Dante informed him. "He grabbed her and slammed her against this wall and yelled at her for doing her job, showing nothing but complete disrespect. It was disgusting."

Lucky spoke up, "not to mention entirely unprofessional, as is everything else he's done since we've hired him.

"Sam, is this true?" Mac asked her, concerned and furious.

"He's an asshole, Mac," was all Sam could say as she glared at Scott.

"I didn't do anything. It's not my fault you let trash off the street interfere with our business," Scott fought back.

"That's enough!" Mac yelled. "Escort him out of here. You're off my force!"

Scott turned to look at Sam. "You might not have been a kidnapping cult member, but you are a bigoted asshole. You think that just because I'm a woman that I'm a slut who walked off working the street corner to lend my experiences to the officer's here? Well, news flash. A case that you men couldn't solve in two months I came and solved in a week."

Dante pulled him off the wall and began to lead him towards the door, fully intending on throwing him out on his ass as hard as he could. But before he could, Scott pulled back, and spit at Sam. Not missing a beat, she punched him square in the face, and everyone around knew that there was no way his nose wouldn't be broken. "Okay, that's enough, Lucky, take Sam into your office, Dante, throw him out of here!" Mac ordered, and everyone followed suit.

. . . . .

Carly hugged Jason tightly the moment she opened the door. It was a long week, and while Carly understood why Sam informed child services about the situation surrounding the kidnappings, she wanted to strangle the woman just a little bit for putting her through this. "How you doing, Carly?" Jason asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. I only have to deal with social services up my ass, but other than that, perfectly peachy," she responded.

"Carly, Sam and I are sorry about that but you have to understand--"

She held up her hand, stopping him. "Jason, as much as I will admit I want to hit Sam for this, I know reasonably that this isn't her fault. And that it's the best thing for some of the children involved. It's Mr. Harding and Mr. Sailor's fault and I just want to kill them for putting us through this. Even though I know Sailor is already dead. I want to bring him back to life and kill him all over again."

"It'll be okay, Carly. They'll be off your back soon enough. Especially with Jax pulling strings," Jason told her, and she nodded in agreement. "Are Michael and Morgan home? I just wanted to check on them."

"Morgan is out, he's actually at karate. Jax is with him, because God knows I'm paranoid now that his karate teacher is going to kidnap him or something, but I wanted Morgan to just continue with his normal life, you know? I don't want this to affect him too much," Carly explained. "Michael's in his room if you want to go on up. He's taking this harder than I thought he would."

"Devon was his friend and he kidnapped his brother," Jason shrugged. "It's normal for him to be upset."

Carly nodded, "well, I'm glad you're here to talk to him. Go on up."

Jason headed up the stairs and into Michael's room, finding him playing videogames. Though he didn't look entirely focused on the game, it made Jason smile knowing that Michael could at least attempt to play them. There was a time last year where he wouldn't even pick up a game, his mind too full of thoughts of killing Claudia, his father's trial, and a need to be in Sonny's business. "Hey man, what're you playing?" he asked his nephew.

"Some new game Jax bought for Morgan," Michael shrugged. "I'm not really paying attention though. How's Sam?"

"Better. Though, she wears the same expression on her face that you have on yours now," Jason told him. "You're happy Morgan is home and happy this is all over, but you're still upset about the fall out. You want to talk about it?"

Michael shrugged. "What's to talk about? I'm not the one who was kidnapped. Morgan will be home soon. You can ask him."

"You want to talk about Devon?"

"The guy's a jerk."

"He was your friend."

"He kidnapped my brother."

"It was a cult, Michael," Jason told him. "I know what Devon did was wrong, and you won't get me making any excuses for him anytime soon. But he was also a victim. Just as much as Morgan. Sam said you guys talked about cults, you know how it works."

Michael paused to consider this. "So you're saying Devon was brainwashed into being a part of this?"

"I don't really know, Michael. I'd like to think so, he seemed like a good kid. And you were friends with him, and I know you have a good judge of character," Jason told him. "Look, what I do know is that Devon saved Sam and me that night. And I know he's lost and hurt and confused right now."

"They've got him locked up at Shadybrook, or at least that's what I heard," Michael said. "You think he's okay?"

Jason shrugged. "Probably not. You know, I'm not saying you should forgive him for his part in Morgan's kidnapping, I know I never will. But maybe you should go see him. Talk to him about all of this. He could probably use a friend right now, just as much as you could use some answers from him."

"I guess," Michael said. "It's just all screwed up, you know?"

"Yeah, Michael. I know."

. . . . .

"Jason?" Sam called out nervously. She had been gone all day, and she had made some serious decisions she knew she probably should have talked to Jason about before making them. But she acted on impulse, she acted on her instincts, and she knew that Jason trusted her instincts as much as she trusted his. He'd be okay with all of this. Right?

But oh, she was nervous. She knew no matter what, she would follow through with her decision, with or without Jason. It was the "without Jason" part that scared her. She wanted him to be as much a part of this as she was, but she didn't want to push him into anything. It would have to be his decision, too.

She made her way into the penthouse, and her heart melted at the sight of the candle lit chinese food dinner that was waiting for her on the kitchen table. It was definitely what she needed after the day she had. She had spent a lot of time with Lucky and Dante, and it was actually odd how easy it was working with the two cops. She and Dante had even come to an understanding that he would always be willing to help her with a case and vice versa, and considering the way he had stuck up for her with Scott, she had a newfound respect for the man who had once tried to take Sonny down.

She had then gone down to meet with Ainsley, and she was pleased with the progress the woman was making on each of the cases. She was relieved to hear that Morgan, Amanda, and Robbie were all found to be in safe and loving environments. She knew Morgan was, and she was glad that the investigation into Carly's family would soon be closed. And as far as Amanda and Robbie were concerned, she was glad that they weren't in any danger, and that they were home where they belonged.

James and his mother, she found, were doing well, and they were building a strong case against his father. Abbey's father, with help, found a new job that he had begun a couple days prior, and Jason had given (though the father insisted that he one day paid Jason back, which Jason would refuse to accept when the time came) enough money to get him out of the debt he was already in. They even found a relative of Kyle's, a great aunt, who was willing to temporarily take custody of her nephew while his mother was in rehab and hopefully pulling her life back together.

There was only one child who was seemingly worse off than better, and as the little girl squirmed in Sam's arms as she made her way over to the table, looking for Jason, she hoped she made the right decision. "Jason?" she called out a second time.

He came thumping down the stairs, and paused at the sight of Sam with little Julia in her arms. The girl held on to Sam's neck tighter when she saw him, and Jason raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something you want to tell me?"

Sam bit her lip. "Okay, so I guess it's best you hear it from me, rather than Lucky or Dante. Though, I don't know how often you and Dante have pow wows. You and Lucky, however, seem to be quite the best buddies lately, you have your heart to hearts so often. But let me just tell you that while Scott grabbed me and shoved me against the wall, I was totally in control of the situation. Even if Dante hadn't pulled him off of me, I still would have punched him and been fine."

That was not the story Jason was expecting her to tell, and his eyes grew wide before narrowing. "Who the hell is Scott and why is he touching you?"

"This bigoted jerk at the PCPD. Mac fired him though, no worries."

"Sam, as much as I want to talk about this and then go hunt down that bastard, do you want to tell me while there is a little girl in your arms."

"Okay, Jason, before you freak out, just let me say that if this isn't want you want, I mean, if this is like the opposite of what you want, I can leave. Really. I still have my apartment, and I can take care of here there," Sam began to ramble. "I mean, that's not what I want. I want to do this with you. Because I love you and have always wanted to do this with you. But if you don't, I can understand--"

"Sam, please. Just tell me what's going on."

"Her mom doesn't want her, Jason," Sam told him. "And even if she did, she is so unfit and abusive, it's insane. It's not like Bridget, Jason. Ainsley promised me that Julia's mother would never be able to take her back, the things they found out about her, oh God, I just couldn't... and they were going to put her in the system. She's...she's a difficult case, Jason. She's a hard to place foster child right now. She's underdeveloped, and she's skittish, and she doesn't trust anyone. Well, except for me. I don't know if it's because I was there and took her from Harding, or what, but she trusts me. And that's why Ainsley suggested it in the first place. And I just... I couldn't say no."

Jason took a step closer to the two of them. "Sam... are you saying she's ours?"

"She's the last child who needs a safe home, Jason," Sam explained. "And I know we can give that to her. We can love her. And it'll be hard, I know it will be. But--"

He pulled Sam and Julia into his arms and pressed a kiss on Sam's forehead. "You think she'll get used to me, too?" he asked.

Sam smiled. "You mean you want to do this with me?"

"I think after everything we went through with this case, this is the only thing that makes sense," he said, and Sam leaned up to kiss him.

She looked down at the little girl in her arms, who was staring at Jason with wide eyes. "Jules, this is Jason. He is going to love and take care of you, just like me. And I know you'll have him wrapped around your finger in no time."

The little girl hid shyly in Sam's chest, but she didn't flinch away when Jason reached out to brush the curls out of her face. It would take a while for the little girl to learn to love and trust the both of them, but in that moment, Jason was damn sure going to make it happen. "How about you go sit down and get off your feet, and the three of us can eat?"

"Sounds perfect, Jason," Sam told him. "Thank you."

"You're quite the P.I., Sam," he said as he pulled out the chair for her and Julia to sit in. "I'd be lying if I didn't expect you to have brought all seven of those kids home last week."

She laughed. "Well, they all have their own families and people who are going to love them." He took the bag she had on her shoulder from her, and opened it to pull out a bottle she had inside. He handed it to her and she fed Julia. "Ainsley promised she'd keep me posted on them all though. She'll be visiting every few weeks just to check on Julia's progress."

"I spoke to Michael about Devon today. He might go visit him. He's mad at hell, but Devon is his friend. Or was. Anyway, I think Michael might want to do whatever he can to help him."

"That's good. I'm sure Devon could use a friend. What he did was wrong, but he was so brainwashed by that goddamn Mr. Harding, I don't know that he even realized it." Julia hiccuped in Sam's arms, and she smiled. "Everything will be okay, huh?"

"Thanks to you, Sam, it will be."

The End.


End file.
